Ours
by idontwannapopuponsearchengines
Summary: If you knew you were gonna die soon, how would you choose to spend your last moments alive? Inuyasha/Bokurano X-Over. Chapter 32: And then there were none.
1. Jun

A/N: Jun and Dung Beetle are not my characters. They are characters from the manga Bokurano by Mohiro Kitoh. Neither is the "game" and the concept of it.

Also, this is Sessh/Kagura but the story will not revolve around them. They will get their focus when it's their time, though they will get more time in the story than everyone else.

* * *

_We thought we'd seen it all. In the Feudal Era of Japan, while fighting Naraku, along with so many others, we thought we knew all there was to war. We thought we were so strong. So invincible...but in reality, we didn't know anything. Not until we encountered...it...that day._

******~Inuyasha~Kagome~Kikyo~Miroku~Sango~Shippo~Koga~**

* * *

"What's this?" Shippo chirped, his high-pitched voice echoing off the walls of the cave he was investigating.

"Hey, Shippo!" he could hear Kagome calling as she chased after him. "Don't wander off like that, you'll get lost! And-hm?"

The girl had to stop and observe this cave. After all, she was in Feudal Japan, so why were there computers here...in a cave? She and Inuyasha were the only people who could get through the well.

"Oi, Kagome! Shippo! What's taking so long?!" Inuyasha shouted as he caught up with them, Miroku, Sango and Kirara following closely behind him. "Come on! We gotta find Naraku; we don't have all day!"

The hanyou received no answer; instead, Kagome continued to inspect the computers. "Inuyasha, these are computers...from my time."

"From your time?" Inuyasha blinked. "How'd they get in here? We're the only ones that can go through the well."

"Yeah...or maybe we're not." Kagome frowned. "This is something serious; there's something going on here that we don't know about. I don't think we can leave this alone."

"Aw come on, what's the worst that could happen? We don't have time to investigate every little suspicious thing!"

Their arguing was interrupted by a small chuckle from the back of the cave. A boy about age twelve stepped out into their view. He had short, cropped black hair and wore not only jeans and a T-shirt, but also a pair of glasses. Definitely not from the Feudal Era.

He walked towards them and stopped when he was about four feet away, and smirked. "I see you've found my secret lab."

"What the hell kid?!" Inuyasha growled as he stood back up. "Who are you?"

"Me? You guys can call me Jun."

"Well Jun...you're definitely not from here." Kagome gave a friendly smile. "What are you doing here? Where are you from?"

Jun tilted his head and surveyed each person in the cave. It was as if he was studying them somehow, to see if they were qualified for something. His eyes landed on Kagome; and he seemed to have come to a conclusion.

"You guys wanna play a game?" he asked, a sad smile forming on his lips.

"A game?" Shippo immediately piped up. "What kind of game?"

"You control...a giant robot. And you fight enemies and save the world."

"Kagome?" Sango spoke up. It seemed she was gaining interest in this. "What's a robot?"

"It's like a metal demon, but he's probably talking about a toy." Kagome answered cheerfully. "So, Jun, a computer game, right?"

Inuyasha growled loudly. "Aww, come on! We don't have time for this! A stupid game will only-"

"Hey there Kagome."

Inuyasha had been cut short due to a whirling tornado running him over. Everyone else knew who it was; Koga had come to flirt again. Jun, however, seemed a bit shocked.

"Uh...hey, Koga." She chuckled nervously, prying her hands away from his. "We were just about to play a game."

"A game, huh? What kind of game?"

"You fucking wolf!" Inuyasha swiped at Koga with his claws; which the wolf demon easily dodged. "Get out of here, we're not playing any stupid game! We have things to do!"

"But Inuyasha, we've been going around in circles for days!" Shippo whined. "I wanna play!"

Kagome scooted closer to the hanyou. "Plus, we need to know as much about this kid as we can. He could be a valuable ally,"

Jun's left eye twitched; he had heard Kagome's comment, but chose not to reply. "Look, if you wanna play, take this seriously, alright?!" he snapped, then held out what seemed to be blank sheets of paper. "Now, all you have to do is seal your contract by touching these papers."

First there was silence; then there were giggles. "Y-you're kidding right? C-contracts?" Kagome laughed; kids took playing pretend so far sometimes. "Alright, whatever you say."

She put her hand on the paper, and Shippo did as well. Miroku and Sango followed soon after, shrugging it off and not paying much attention to it. Koga, wanting to please Kagome like always, "signed" the contract. Only the mumbling hanyou was left.

"Aw come on Inuyasha, it'll be fun!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because-HEY!" Inuyasha exclaimed as Kagome took his hand and placed it on the piece of paper, contracting him. "What was that for?!"

The teenage girl in question just smiled. "Lighten up a bit, will you?"

"Fine! Whatever."

Jun was eerily silent. It was obvious he wanted to talk; but he wasn't. Was he unsure of what to do? The boy sighed and looked up at a spot in the ceiling of the cave; refusing to meet their eyes.

"And now...it begins."

Deadpan silence filled the cave as everyone struggled to figure out what Jun meant. "Wait..." Kagome spoke. "So...it's not a computer game?"

There was no response.

"Jun...this is a game, right? Right...? Jun...?"

* * *

_When there's no place for you to fit in in this world, do you carve yourself to fit the world, or do you carve the rest of the world to fit you? I chose the latter, and I carve so many others to be whatever I wanted._

_Until then, when someone decided to carve me to fit their vision instead._

**~Naraku~Hakudoshi~Kagura~Kanna~Kohaku~**

* * *

It gave off no demonic aura; however it was strong, and definitely not human. This thing that called itself "Dung Beetle". Naraku scoffed. What a ridiculous name.

"So? What's taking you so long? Contract it already."

The thing sure talked a lot for such a small creature. It looked like a floating mouse; kind of. Its expression never changed; and it had no arms or legs. It was just a floating metal ball with a tail, mouse ears, and a face painted onto it. Yet it was very much alive.

"...And I get power over that...correct?" Naraku once again laid his eyes on the creature that was standing on the beach. It was the biggest thing he'd ever seen. It was supposed to be invincible; protected by fifteen layers of armor and had power unheard of in this world. "How do I know it's as strong as you say?"

"Are you stupid or what?! Obviously, you'll find out when you use it. There's nothing to lose!"

"Hmph." Naraku put his hand on the contract. One by one, he ordered his incarnations to do the same. Kagura, Hakudoshi, Kanna, and then finally, the demon-slayer boy Kohaku. They were all contracted...now to see if this thing was really worth it.

* * *

_Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It took a while for me to realize that; but by then, it was too late. One that had wanted nothing but power will hate it and what came with it. Invincibility, living too long...all of these things were also things I'd come to see as a curse._

**~Sesshomaru~Jaken~Rin~**

* * *

"In order for them to be protected, they have to be contracted too." said Jun. Sesshomaru eyed him suspiciously; the boy had not looked him in his eyes the entire time. He didn't know if he could trust him. But now that he knew Naraku and his brother both had power over that, there was no harm in him trying. This boy, and the other creature...the creature called "Dung Beetle" could not be slain. He had never encountered beings such as these.

What harm could come from testing out a weapon? At least to him that is. So he "sealed the contract". If he didn't like it, he wouldn't use it, but he didn't know what Rin and Jaken might do.

"You heard him Rin! Come on, let's sign!" Jaken rushed his contracting frantically, and Rin did so without question. Too late.

"Alright, everyone else is already there." Dung Beetle announced as he put up some sort of shield around them, much like the one Naraku used. "We got all fifteen. Let's go."

And to everyone's surprise, they were teleported away by the small thing to the place that would be the first step to their demise.


	2. Jun2

"We call it Zearth." explained Dung Beetle while everyone stared at the robot in shock. They were no strangers to supernatural things, but this...this was not alive. It was no demon. What was it? And meanwhile, the one from the future, Kagome, knew what is was but couldn't understand how something she'd only seen in sci-fi movies and anime had ended up in Feudal Japan.

Jun had disappeared after Dung Beetle teleported the rest of the contracted pilots to the area. Nobody knew where he went, or why. Kagome surveyed the others; who else was contracted to use this thing? She saw Inuyasha, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Koga, Naraku, Kagura, Kanna, Hakudoshi, Kohaku, Jaken, Rin, Sesshomaru, Kikyo-wait, Kikyo? What was she doing here?

"Why, exactly, am I here?" the miko spoke up at that moment. "I'm not one of these...contracted people. I have never touched those papers. I don't even know what's going on."

"You don't do you? Well, too late." Dung Beetle replied. "The fight'll start at any minute, and you're here anyway, so let's just go."

Rin's sudden shriek of terror drew everyone's attention away from their conversations and onto the girl. She was hiding behind Jaken, pointing at something. "Th-that! What is that?"

The fourteen others that had yet to lay eyes on the newcomer all turned their heads to where Rin was pointing. It was another metal creature-another "robot", as Kagome called it. This one didn't look like the one called Zearth. It was white, shaped like a cross between a spider and a scorpion, and had to be about 60 stories tall.

Jaken gulped. "Is-is that the enemy?"

"Yup." confirmed Dung Beetle. "You're not gonna fight though. Jun's gonna fight it, to show you how to use the Zearth. Once his turn is over, your magazine will be loaded. Then it's your turn."

Suddenly the atmosphere around them became fuzzy; Kagome could compare it to TV static. Something was off; they felt dizzy. So Dung Beetle was teleporting them somewhere...would it always be like this?

Soon the weird vibes and dizziness was gone. They now stood in an empty, circular room with fifteen chairs floating in a circular formation in mid-air. There was a screen in the middle where one could see what was going on outside the robot. Fourteen chairs were empty. Only one chair was occupied; the occupant they could now identify as Jun.

He turned around and flashed a grin. "Welcome to the cockpit."

Nobody moved or said a word. Whether it was shock, confusion, or they were just observing in silence, they wouldn't budge. The air was thick with tension.

"The enemy will now attack." Jun announced.

Sure enough, the other robot began shooting out intense waves of electricity from its head, aimed at Zearth. It bounced off of Zearth's armor; however the villages nearby that received the deflected attack weren't as lucky as the pilots. Their screaming could be heard from inside the cockpit; the villages were burning down.

Jun, however, did not seem concerned at all. "Heh. An attack of that level won't knock off a single plate of armor." He announced. "Now, let's go." Everyone felt the vibrations as the massive robot containing them moved.

"Ah!" screamed Sango. "It moves?"

"It moves if you will it to. It's linked to the pilot's mind, so you all shouldn't have any trouble using it."

With that said, thousands of little lights popped up on the surface of Zearth's armor. They turned into laser beams; countless laser beams that ruthlessly pounded at the enemy came from all over Zearth's body. Jun continued to attack for well over ten minutes, then stopped. The smoke cleared away to reveal the enemy robot completely unharmed.

Jun scoffed. "Of course, that won't do much damage to them either. In order to win..." the boy paused, making Zearth run over to the enemy and stab through its center with the robot's cannnon-like arm. "You gotta pull off the armor when necessary!" The boy was shouting now.

Zearth tore off its opponent's limbs piece by piece. "...This is important, so pay attention!" he panted. "All robots have vital areas. The location varies for each opponent, but it's usually inside the body, protected by layers of thick armor! You can't win without destroying it!"

Jun pulled out a round, layered metal sphere from inside the opponent's body. "And once you find that, crush it." Zearth's giant fingers utterly destroyed the "vital spot" effortlessly.

But Kagome could have sworn that Jun had hesitated. Somehow, he didn't want to crush it. He had a look of sorrow in his eyes just before he destroyed the sphere.

Exactly what was the "vital spot", anyway...? What was in it?

The enemy robot was no longer moving. They could see that its face had fifteen spots; fourteen were blank and only one was lit. As soon as the sphere was destroyed, the single light faded away, now leaving fifteen blank spots on the robot's face. They didn't know what this meant.

Jun scanned the fourteen empty chairs around him with a grim expression. He looked as if he was deep in thought; but then, he just closed his eyes and grinned.

"Well, that's it." He announced. "My job is done. After this, it's up to you all the protect the Earth."

"The Earth?!" Inuyasha exclaimed. "Wait, wha-what is really happening?"

"Don't ask stupid questions. You already saw everything you need to know!" Dung Beetle snapped. "It's time to go back."

"...Dung Beetle?" Jun whispered.

"What?"

"Remember me."

"...I will."

The atmosphere became blurry again; and they knew Dung Beetle was about to teleport them away. They could see a faint outline of Jun's form still.

"Hey guys?" They saw his silouhette turn its head towards them. "I'm really, really sor-"

* * *

They were back at the beach. Zearth and the other robot that had lost were still out at sea, completely still. First the losing robot evaporated into thin air; it seemed. Then Zearth soon followed and disappeared as well.

"...Well, if you have any questions, just call for me." And Dung Beetle disappeared too.

They split up into their usual groups and went their seperate ways. Naraku seemed a bit too happy for Inuyasha's liking. Sesshomaru, of course, was completely unemotional throughout the whole thing.

"The Earth, huh?" Miroku sighed. "It's not just Japan anymore."

"Yeah well, look at the bright side!" Sango smiled. "We have a weapon that's practically invincible!"

"I wonder...if that boy is okay now." Kagome said softly, drawing four sets of curious eyes to her. "When we were coming back...I think what he was trying to say was...I think he was about to say 'I'm Sorry'."

And in Zearth's cockpit, there were now fifteen empty chairs instead of fourteen.


	3. Naraku

(A/N: From now on, the story will be told from the perspective of the character whose name is in the title. If there is a switch to 3rd-person POV, I'll say so.)

Tonight was my night. My night to rest, my once-in-a-month. Usually during this time, I reassemble my body-detach the parts I don't want anymore, make myself stronger that way, and then use this time to get the rest I need because there's no use trying to fight in this form. Not even my so-called "children" work during this time because I've learned what happens when I let them out of my sight. Oh Kagura, she just keeps digging her own grave.

But even so, I can't sleep tonight. Probably because of all the excitement over my new...toy. My mouth shifted to a grin; it does that when I think of all the new possibilities. This thing can't be destroyed by anything from "this" Earth, like that Dung Beetle thing.

Whatever it meant by "this" Earth, I don't know and I don't care. All I know is that they're delusional if they think I'll let any of the other so-called "pilots" live to use my toy after my turn. I'll win the battle quickly and then I'll get rid of all of them. Then the jewel will be mine, and finally, _finally_ I can become full demon.

I'm too energetic now. I can't even sit still so I stand and start walking around to random areas, fatasizing, daydreaming.

"You're an insomniac too, now?" I hear someone comment. I recognize the voice as Kagura. "I thought we were supposed to use this day to rest, so what are you doing?"

"I can do whatever I want." I replied, still grinning. Not even Kagura's attitude could bring me down.

Her attitude. I hate her attitude. Everyone always thinks I'm the one who's so cruel, so mean for holding her heart captive, but can't they see I have no choice? Kagura's wanted me dead since the day she was born. I gave her life! And she wants me dead just because she didn't want to pay the price that came with it. Everything has a price, and for something like life, the price has obviously got to be very high. But all I wanted was for her to work for me. That's not too much to ask, is it? I'm her father after all. She wouldn't be alive in the first place if it weren't for me. I give her a roof over her head, food, clothes, teach her what she needs to be taught, everything she could ever need, and I'm not even asking for gratitude! I'm not even asking her to be thankful for anything. All I want is for her to help me reach my goal. Is that such a big deal? Is that too much to ask?

Apparently, for her it was, because she started trying to kill me after she found out that was what I wanted. Now, at this point, many people would've just killed her-she's threatening my life, after all. But I didn't. All I did was take necessary precautions to make sure whatever she was trying to do to kill me wouldn't work. That's all I'm doing-protecting myself. My life. If I didn't, well, I'd die. I'm doing this as self-defense, and yet, I'm the one who's evil. They all blame me, like always. They hate me. No matter what, I'm the one who's so cruel and nasty.

That is why a lot of times, I do things to make myself deserve that hatred. I'm not gonna be blamed for something I didn't cause. They don't care to listen. If I'm gonna be punished and held resposible, then I might as well actually commit to crimes I'm already being punished for. I'd rather go and make it fair so that I actually deserve the hatred everyone has for me instead of being judged unfairly.

"What do you care, anyway?" I snapped at Kagura. "Aren't you too busy dreaming of your precious dog lord to be wasting time talking to me?"

Kagura scoffed. She has no answer. Heh. She probably thought I didn't know what she was up to. Stupid girl. Like I said, she keeps digging her own grave deeper and deeper.

Isn't it ironic though, that she hates me, yet she adores this Sesshomaru man so much? What a hypocrite. He may not be holding her heart in his hands, but otherwise, he's me. Or a wanna-be, toned-down version of me since he can't seem to make up his mind. He acts like he's trying to be like me, or out-do me usually, but he turns around and can never live up to me. "I have no compassion" my ass.

But the thing that irks me the most about him is that while he's done almost as much damage as I have, he gets away with it. Because he has that little girl with him. He does good for one person, and suddenly people around him act like they completely forgot everything else he's done...like taking care of one girl makes up for brutally torturing and killing thousands. When I do it, I'm oh-so-hateful and cruel, but him, he's just "a bit cold" because if he was as bad as me, "he wouldn't have a little girl around with him".

Maybe if I started being more openly affectionate to Kanna...? Nah, it won't do. Nothing ever does. They'll find some way to twist it around and make it look like something different. The world is like that to me; it always has been.

It's not like I care anyway. I really don't care. Once I get the jewel, I'll have so much power I wouldn't know what to do with it! Who needs stupid friendships or any of that other bullshit the world claims is oh-so-nice when you have the kind of power I'll have soon?

Suddenly we heard a loud crash somewhere above us.

"Dammit, they've been going at it all day!" Hakudoshi, my little clone, screams in agitation as he walks outside to where we're standing. He's awakened Kohaku, who is coming out behind him, shaking his head. Kanna is here too, but I don't know if she sleeps or not.

"The other demons and some humans have been restless ever since zearth appeared." whispered Kanna. "They're really confused because they don't know what it is. Some are training to fight it, some are on the lookout for it. Some want it gone..."

Huh. I wonder exactly how everyone else is gonna react to this.

_Naraku._

"Who called my name?" I asked, but no one answered. They just stared at me blankly, some of them shaking their heads. That's funny. I could've sworn I heard something.

_Naraku._

There it is again. What the hell is going on? Am I going crazy?

"Yo." said someone from behind me. I turned around; it was that funny looking Dung Beetle. Thing has no youki or scent to it at all...plus it can teleport, which explains how it got inside my barrier.

"Your magazine's loaded, brats." it continued, leading many of them to look astonished. Nobody's talked to me or my "children" in such a tone before. We're not exactly the kind of people you can be casual with. "Who heard the voice?"

"Voice?" I spoke up. Nice to know I'm not going insane. "So that was what I heard."

"So it was you. Alright, let's go to the cockpit."

The thing teleported us again using whatever crazy method it used. I could see the rest of the "contracters" were already there. But besides the people there, it was very empty, unlike the last time I'd seen it. Except...

"Hey. Aren't these that Jun kid's glasses?" I heard Kagome say before she picked them up. "Huh...guess he forgot them. I'll keep it and return them to him later."

Where the hell did that kid go anyway? Whatever. I don't care. All I know is that just now, fifteen of those things that the miko calls "chairs" have suddenly appeared in the cockpit. They were not the same chairs that had been here the last time, though they did form the same circle. They were of vastly different sizes and shapes; some of them looked very strange.

"These are your seats." said Dung Beetle. "Your mind will recognize yours as its own."

Everyone started moving to whatever chair called out to them. The fox kid went straight for the fuzzy one shaped like an animal. Kagura's chair had no legs on it. Inuyasha's chair looked like patchwork; and many of them, I can't even describe.

The one that called out to me was metal. It had something over its head, and some kind of clasps on the arms. I reached for it and claimed it as mine.

I heard Kagome gasp. "H-his chair is an electric chair..."

Her friends started bombarding her with questions about what the hell an electric chair was. I, personally, don't give a damn. It's a seat. One that floats in mid-air, but still just a seat.

"Where are we now?" I heard the monk ask. "We're not near any people, are we?"

"Don't worry about that. We're underwater...deep under the sea."

Huh. That's a location I never thought I'd find myself in.

A portal-like thing appeared in front of us; it showed us our surroundings before zooming in on the enemy. It was a weird pear-shaped thing, currently above us.

"This thing moves by thought, correct?" I asked.

"Isn't that what I said?"

"But there's fifteen of us." replied Sango.

"Just try it."

Everyone else around me closed their eyes; it seemed they were trying to move it, but nothing was happening. The only person not attempting was...

"Me?"

"You heard the voice, right? So you're Zearth's current pilot. It'll move according to your will."

Excellent. Excellent. I'm the first pilot to ever touch it. No one can interefere with my plans by doing something beforehand. No one would be able to choose to kill me with this before my turn. I am first. Excellent.

"Here we go then." I smirked. The people around me all looked anxious, except Sesshomaru. No doubt they were worried about what I'd do with this thing. I willed it to take off out of the water to where the enemy was.

And it did. It worked. I could see the enemy. I caught a reflection of Zearths face; it had fifteen slots on it, each of them filled with light.

Here I go.


	4. Naraku2

A lot of people don't know this about me; actually no one does. But I'd trade places with Inuyasha in a heartbeat. That hanyou has everything I never did. Everything. So many friends around him, who love him...Kikyo's heart, Kagome's heart, a family.

I know what you're thinking. Is this the same Naraku that constantly called human emotions "weak" and "useless"? Yes, but I didn't realize this myself until I started thinking about exactly why I was doing those things...why I enjoyed breaking people so much.

I don't want anyone else to be able to have what has been denied to me.

I'm not the only one who's made mistakes, I'm sure, but most people have at least one person...me, no one. Everyone hates me and they want me dead. I can never have what Inuyasha has. It's not right for them to be happy and ignore me. It's not right for the world to laugh while I'm lonely and not even care, and not even notice that I am.

So, when I see this injustice, is it so wrong of me to stop it? Why should they be able to have what I can't? They never did anything to deserve more than me, so they shouldn't have it.

Whatever. Knowing the world, it'll find some way to make it my fault anyway. Well, I refuse to be the victim.

I guess that's why I started calling those things useless and petty. Because I didn't want to admit, or even realize, the real reason why I hated seeing people love each other. I didn't want to admit to myself that it angered me because I wanted it, but didn't have it and couldn't have it. So that was my cover-up. My excuse, my disguise for what was really going on in my head. I lied pretty good. I lied so good to myself I didn't even realize I was lying until today.

But there's no turning back now. It's too late. It's not like the world's gonna change for me because of it. Nope, it's proven a thousand times over it hates me.

"Fire!" I shouted, focusing all my hatred for the world on the enemy. Zearth started shooting a bunch of...lasers, were they? Lasers. Those at the enemy. It went straight through the enemy and hit the mountain instead.

"It-it disappeared!" shouted Koga. "And you didn't even hurt it."

Thanks a lot for stating the obvious. No, but the mountain collapsed because the enemy teleported out of the way.

And now, it was flying at us. I changed my mind about its shape; now that I look at it, it doesn't look like a pear. It looks much more like a sword; the biggest sword in the world, probably. Headed right at us.

I put up Zearth's arm to block it, and as the robot's arm was torn off, my own arm started to feel like it was being ripped off. I gasped a bit; I wouldn't scream. I'm used to pain.

"I can feel it." I glared at Dung Beetle, who had not told me about this. He shrugged.

"The robot's linked to you telephathically. You control it with your mind, so it shouldn't be a surprise you can also feel what's being done to it."

"Here it comes again!" shouted Sango. I re-focused my attention on it and shot more lasers at it; as many as I could. Still, no effect. This time I used my other arm to throw it off me.

Miroku decided to butt in. "There's a hole between its legs."

"Where did the arm fall?" I shouted at Dung Beetle.

"Don't order me around!" it snapped at me. "I already said it'll do what you will it to!"

I look down at the portal-thing; the arm is deep underwater below us. The enemy had recovered from being thrown and was charging at us again. I fired more lasers.

"If that didn't work the last time why would it work now?!" Kagura screamed at me. Annoying bitch.

The enemy was distracted; I used the time I had to grab the arm that had been ripped off me. I threw the arm and it hit the enemy and pierced its center. Not from the pointy, sword-like side, but from the blunt side. It stopped flying and fell into the ocean. It was still squirming a little bit.

"Go on!" Kagura shouted again. "Finish it off!"

"No need." Dung Beetle intervined. "You hit its vital spot perfectly. It's a goner."

It was, was it? I wanted to see. "Take me outside."

He did. We went on top of Zearth's head.

Zearth was even bigger than I imagined. From this height, I could barely see anything. It was like I was reigning over the world as its ruler. I won. I did it. And now, my enemies would die as well. I did it.

"Kukuku..." I started to laugh, making everyone stare at me apprehensively. Steadily my laugh became louder and stronger until I was basically screaming at the world below me. I feel good. I turned around and continued laughing. I can see Zearth's face; with its fifteen lights, and I knew that-

...Wait, did one of those lights just blink?

"Naraku, stop making a scene and just go." Kagura says, and shoves me forward, signaling me to start walking. For some strange reason, this knocked me off balance.

I am falling off Zearth's ledge. I can't summon the energy to fly off. My body lands with a loud crash on Zearth's shoulder.

That light. The one that was blinking...it just went out for good.

* * *

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

"No doubt about it. He's dead." Koga confirmed. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both nodded in agreement; they could tell by the scent of him that he was definitely dead. Miroku opened his hand just in case; the wind tunnel was gone.

Naraku was dead.

Their mortal enemy that they had struggled to defeat for so long was finally dead.

But no one was rejoicing because his sudden death was very...suspicious.

"How...?" Kagome whispered. "Why? He's been indestructible for so long, and yet, all he did was fall...how...?"

"I didn't even push him that hard." said Kagura, biting her lip. On one hand, she was free, but on the other hand, she got the feeling there was something else headed their way.


	5. Kanna

Afterwards, we went our seperate ways. Kohaku went with his sister, Hakudoshi went off by himself, and I stayed together with Kagura. She was more worried than happy about her new freedom. She kept saying Naraku might not really be dead, that he died too easy, and that he might come back somehow.

I don't care, really, but you can expect that from me.

The rest of Japan was probably in chaos; after all, the hanyou that had been terrorizing it for who knows how long had just been found dead without explanation. They'll probably conclude he died in battle. then they'd probably recognize that his body isn't injured at all, but it's not like we could explain it to them. We don't know why he died either. And that was what was scaring us, even me, partially.

Inuyasha and his crew were talking about how they were gonna have to keep killing people from now on. I don't know why they care. There's plenty other life in the world. If some die, there's plenty more left. That's what I'd always made myself think ever since I first started working for Naraku.

My father. I don't hate him. My siblings all do, but I don't. No child is born immediately hating their parent, and me and my siblings are no exception. A child believes and loves what they are raised and taught to, until they gain a bit of independence from their parent and experience the outside world and slowly come to make decisions for themselves.

The only difference between us is how we reacted to what we found.

My siblings were astonished; they turned on my father. It was so easy for them to make up their minds. It wasn't so easy for me.

While they chose to go further into the outside world, I turned a blind eye to it. I convinced myself it was lying, and that Naraku, my father, had to be right. I wouldn't let anyone, or anything even try to make me think otherwise. I didn't want to believe it. I had held my father to the highest regards for so long, and I didn't want to stop. I always wanted to feel the same way about him, so I did not listen to things I didn't want to believe.

It was no easy task, either. It took hard work to keep on brainwashing myself, forcing myself to think a certain way. That's when I learned to just tune it all out. Detach myself so that I couldn't hear. I did that for so long, it became natural. It became a part of me.

Now that he's gone, it's rather silly. But many people do that. It's much easier to keep on living a satisfying lie than to wake up and face the cold, harsh truth. And many choose to fool themselves so that they can be happy; at least pretend they are happy, even if they know they're living a lie.

"Ready, kids?" I heard Dung Beetle's voice. "It's showtime."

We were inside Zearth's cockpit; he had teleported us. Huh. That was rather sudden.

"Arg, be careful when you teleport us next time!" Kagome was yelling, pulling Inuyasha's outer haori around herself. "There's some things we don't like to be interrupted during!"

"I guess the moment of transportation was ill-chosen." Dung Beetle replied, causing Kagome to swipe at the air, trying to hit him. Apparently she was taking a bath when he chose to teleport all of us here.

"Did anyone here than voice thing?" asked Miroku.

"Me." I whispered. "After Naraku died, I got the signal immediately. But I didn't know how to react at the time."

I guess that was a bad subject to bring up. Everyone froze and they each took on a different facial expression.

"...How's the robot arm?" I asked Dung beetle before finding my seat. My plain, wooden seat painted white.

"It repairs itself. It's handy like that." he replied. "Anyway, here it comes."

This one looked like an upside-down teardrop with arms. That's the best I can describe it. I kill it, huh? Without saying a word, I lifted my-Zearth's-foot and started walking. Humans' houses were being crushed underneath me with every step.

"The houses!" Shippo shrieked. I ignored him and continued to walk, making crunching sounds with every step. People were screaming as I overturned everything.

"Kanna, watch your step!" I heard Sango shout. "Don't just crush everything!"

I blinked. "Why not? I don't particularly care."

Inuyasha spoke up. "Listen, kid, there's people in those houses. People that have nothing to do with this!"

"So, how can I fight without moving?" I looked him square in the eyes. "If we can save...the rest of the world, then a couple thousand lives is something I'm willing to sacrifice."

"What-? But you can't just do that!" protested Kagome. "You gotta think of others!"

"After yourself." I replied. Just then, the other robot sprouted what looked like a tentacle and grabbed my-Zearth's foot, much like I had seen Naraku do with his tentacles. It started to swing us around in a circle and then threw us into a random village.

"No problems for us." announced Dung Beetle. "This cockpit is a floating model."

"But what about the people under us?" asked Kagome.

"Heh. You'd better hope they'd evacuated already."

Once again, it wrapped a tentacle around our leg and swung us around before hurling Zearth into a mountain. Before I could react, it got ready to repeat the same cycle.

"Kanna, it's trying to keep you from getting any closer." said Kagura. "Do something about it-if you can't, then do what the enemy is doing."

This time, I used the fact that it had its tentacle around my leg to pull it closer to me. I pulled and pulled; then I flung it around by its own tentacle and threw it off. Just like it had done to me. I grabbed it again and kept swinging it until I could see the round vital area.

There. An opening. I found the sphere, pulled it out, and crushed it in Zearth's hand.

I feel...I feel so dizzy. The ground looks very welcoming.

* * *

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

"I-I don't wanna do this anymore..." Shippo whimpered from Kagome's shoulder. "This, this is like-"

"Sorry. No can do." Dung Beetle interrupted."You all signed the contract. Nothing can stop it now."

They stared at Kanna's limp form as Kagura went to check her sister. She collapsed so suddenly. Just like Naraku had. "Is she..." the wind witch mumbled. "Is she dead?"

Thirteen sets of eyes came to rest on Dung Beetle. "What?" he exclaimed. "Why are you so-wait...you mean you didn't know?"

"Know what?" Inuyasha demanded.

"All of these robots operate using life energy. You mean Jun didn't tell you about that before I got here? For every battle you win, the pilot's life is taken away to keep Zearth operating for the next round."

Silence.

"You...you can't be serious..." Hakudoshi spoke, slowly raising his fist before lashing out and trying to punch Dung Beetle. "You little piece of shit!"

Dung Beetle managed to dodge very easily. "Hey hey, it's a good deal! You control the strongest thing on Earth, protect the world, in exchange for your own life!"

"It's me." Kohaku spoke up. Everyone looked up at him, except for Hakudoshi, whose frustration hadn't yet calmed down. "Next is me."

"K-Kohaku...?" Sango stuttered.

"I heard the voice." the boy confirmed.

"Y-you don't have to fight!" Inuyasha shouted. "They can't make us agree to something like this. Why should we-"

"I think it's set up so we have no choice." Miroku interrupted. "Remember, we have to do this to protect the Earth? So that means, if we don't fight...the Earth would be destroyed."

"Well said!" Dung Beetle spoke in approval, Hakudoshi finally having calmed down. "You figured it out. If you don't fight, the enemy will kill you, you'd lose, and the world is gone. Even if they don't, it's set up so that if no outcome is reached whithin 48 hours, the Earth ceases to exist. And if you lose, same thing. You can either fight, and die _saving_ the rest of the world, or you can shoose to not fight, and _die along with_ the rest of the world."

No one spoke; until Rin started to whimper. "Wh-why? Why are you doing this?"

"Me? I'm not. This isn't my choice. My resposibility is to teach you the rules. I don't make them."

"Then, who makes the rules?! Why is this happening?"

Dung Beetle turned his back to them and gave no answer.

Kikyo, after having been quiet the whole time, let out the breath she had been holding in. "So that's the reason Naraku died."


	6. Kohaku

(A/N: To all those who reviewed, thank you so much. I was beginning to think maybe no one wanted to read anything serious.

For those who are reading but haven't, **please** do. Reviews are very much appreciated. That's how I decide whether or not to continue a story.

Also, any feedback on how I might improve on writing in Kohaku's POV would be great.)

* * *

Much to my sister's surprise, the first person I went to see after Kanna's death was Kagura. She was alone now. Not that she had much of a bond with Kanna, but Kanna was the only person besides Naraku that had known her since birth. Kagura had to feel some sort of security with her.

"Are you happy?" she had asked me. I didn't know how to answer that at first.

I had been freed from Naraku, only to be rewarded with death. So had she. Kagura kept saying that she felt robbed; that if she was just gonna die soon after, there was no point in having this freedom in the first place.

Not so with me.

The moment we were made aware of our situation, I suddenly felt better than I had ever before. Like a huge burden had been lifted from my shoulders. Everything seemed brighter now; so much clearer.

I no longer have a tomorrow to worry about.

"You're smiling more, Kohaku." Sango noted at lunch. I lifted my head and nodded. It feels so good to be able to talk to her like this. Without any worries or guilt. My state of being seems to put her at ease too; which made everyone around us even happier.

Ever since the day I killed my father, I spent my days trying to find atonement. That was all there was to my existance; trying to make up for my sins, trying to somehow undo my mistakes, trying to find a way to go back in time.

But we all know there is no way to go back in time. Time never runs backwards. It only runs forwards. There's no way to run from pain; you can only go towards it.

Life is a cycle. What goes up must come down, only to somehow come back up again. Once you solve one problem, life will always present you with a new one.

That is the reason we can feel. The only reason we can call something "happiness" is because we have experienced "sadness" to compare it to and vice versa. We would not be able to appreciate sunshine if we had never experienced the darkness of a cloudy day.

I would not be able to feel so good about my sister's smile if I had never felt the pain of seeing her cry.

Unfortunately, that goes the other way too. We would not be able to feel loss if we had nothing to begin with. Pain wouldn't hurt so much if we weren't comparing it with pleasure.

It would be nice if pain only served to make us stronger and give us more appreciation for the better things in life; however, joy also serves to break us down so that the tough times hurt that much more.

If you're in a bad situation, things can get better. Unfortunately, they will inevitably get worse once they get better. What goes up must come down...and the higher you go up, the harder you fall. The greater your joy is now, the more you'll hurt when it eventually comes to an end.

We just keep going up and down, and up and down, and up and down...quite frankly, I don't want to do that anymore.

"Sango?" I called. "I'll clean up after everyone."

She just tilted her head before leaving me alone; she knew she couldn't argue with me. I'm always taking responsibility, always being the better person. It's a habit I picked up from endlessly trying to redeem myself from my past.

Somehow, I know it's all in my head. I know that I'm the only one who can decide whether I've been "redeemed". I know that it's better for the future if I live in the present and not the past.

But I can't, because I'm scared of the future. I don't want it. I don't want to be carried up high just so I can be dropped again. And again. And again. And again.

Right now, I'm at the "high point". I've gone up, and I don't wanna go back down. I've been given a chance to make sure of that, and whoever gave me that chance-if there is someone-thank you. Thank you.

Everyone's cycle ends eventually, and we have no choice where to end it-at a "high" point or a "low" point-or how many cycles is enough. I know I don't want another cycle, and I get to end at a high point. On top of that, I am sacrificing my life to save others; I think it just might be enough to make me forgive myself.

I'm coming, father.

* * *

It took me nearly two hours to finish cleaning up. Inuyasha and Shippo alone ate enough for ten people; cleaning up behind Kagome, Miroku, Sango and Kirara on top of that was exhausting.

Afterwards, I headed back to Kaede's hut to rest. To my surprise, Sango was there, sitting on the futon I usually slept on.

"You ready to go?" she smiled at me.

I blinked cluelessly. "Go where?"

We rode Kirara to the flower garden we used to play in when we were younger; the one near our village. The one where Kagura once snuck me out to, and I almost ran into Sango at...but I hid from her.

After praying for our deceased family members, we lit a campfire in the center of the village. Well, where the village used to be. Sango cooked enough for ten people to eat, just like she used to back in the day.

I watched her solemnly as she set a place for father at the exact spot where he used to sit. Then, she sat next to me and started clapping her hands.

That beat...I recognize it. It's the same one the neighbor used to play when we used to eat together. Back then, the whole village would gather around and dance by the fire.

But this time, we were alone. And yet Sango was still clapping like nothing had changed.

I couldn't eat. I couldn't act. I just sat there and watched, trying to decide whether my sister was admirable or delusional.

At that moment, it seems Kirara found watching my sister do this alone too heartbreaking; she jumped out and hopped around the fire, just like she used to do when dancing with the villagers and trying to avoid their feet.

"Look, Kirara is dancing!" Sango beamed. "Come on, father, let's dance!"

She held out her hand to our "father" and "led" him out to the fire. "Come on, Kohaku!" she waved at me. "Join us!"

A part of me wanted to shake her and tell her to stop acting crazy and that our father was dead. Our whole village was dead; I had killed them. She was crazy.

My feet had plans of their own. I found myself putting on a huge grin, and joining hands with her and "father" to repeat the steps we used to dance with. If this bothered Sango at any time, she certainly didn't show it. In fact, having her act like this, like she definitely believed we were back in our childhood days fueled a change in me.

That night, just for that moment, I could've sworn I heard father's voice again. I could've sworn I felt his hand holding mine; and that I saw everyone dancing the night away happily.

After dinner, we bid "father" goodbye, and retired to the hut we used to live in. Sango had brought futons, and she laid them out in the room we used to share together, and we went to bed the same way we used to when we were younger.

"Kohaku?" she called from her futon. I turned my head in acknowledgement.

"What really bothered me was that you'd always be so overtly responsible." she continued. "It's alright to be imperfect, you know? As long as you do what you need to do. And...if someone still has a problem with you, something's wrong with them. It means they care more about how things appear than how they really are."

I stayed silent. I expected her to notice that I always tried hard to be "good", but I didn't expect her to say it out loud.

"...It's better to be a good person reedeming their past than to be someone with a great past abusing the present, Kohaku."

"...Sango?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for today. It really healed something in me."

"Go to sleep."

We woke up pretty early next morning; and we continued where we left off last night with our pretending. Until I finished doing the dishes and looked to my right and saw a giant white being.

It's time.


	7. Kohaku2

From the cockpit, I could see the enemy better. This one looked almost exactly like Zearth, except that it was white.

"Kid, you look like shit." I heard Dung Beetle comment. "Low on sleep?"

I nodded silently.

"What, did you take time to make some final memories instead of getting rest?" he scoffed. "How stupid."

Suddenly the enemy took a step backwards, catching everyone by surprise.

"What is it doing?" Koga asked no one in particular. "Is it giving the people time to escape?"

"Now why the hell would it do that?" Hakudoshi snapped at him. I tried to ignore them, but Koga's words kept ringing in my mind. After all, we were the ones controlling Zearth; it did what we wanted it to. Was it really giving people time to escape?

It was very possible that our opponents were biding to someone's will. What was controlling the enemies? The other "robots"? Did they move on their own? Did they have consciousness? If not, what made them do the things they did?

Or perhaps, were they controlled by someone else's consciousness like Zearth?

I shook my head; I didn't want to think about that right now.

"Has anyone else noticed this yet?" Miroku's voice interrupted. "This thing's face."

"What about it?" asked Inuyasha.

"I'm talking about the white lights." the monk continued in a grim voice. "There are fifteen slits on Zearth's face; each one has a light inside. And of those lights, two of them have disappeared. Which means those lights represent-"

"-Our _lives?!" _Hakudoshi screamed, interrupting Miroku. "What kind of sick fucking joke is this?!"

I felt something abruptly hit me-no, Zearth-on the head and turned to look. The screen showed a small bird demon throwing punches at the robot.

I am being...attacked?

"Most people don't know what's going on." Sango explained to me. "All they know is what they saw. Right now, this thing...Zearth...has a lot of enemies because it's gone around killing a lot."

I screamed as I felt another blow; this one was much more painful than the first. It came from a bigger bird demon that had thrown some sort of sword at Zearth.

"Don't worry. Nothing from this Earth can harm Zearth, no matter how strong it is. They're wasting their time." Dung Beetle clarified. But that did nothing for the fact that I could feel the pain of every attack they unleashed on Zearth.

The enemy robot chose this moment to take a step forward; I ignored the pain of the bird demons attacking me the best I could and charged at it rapidly. It punched Zearth square in the chest, knocking off several pieces of armor.

I gasped as I felt like air was being knocked out of my lungs; like someone had puched a hole through me or something. But it was okay; I'm a trained demon-slayer. I can still fight while in pain. I attempted to punch it the same way it punched me, but to no avail.

"I can't hit it, the arms are too long!"

"In that case, detach them." Dung Beetle answered simply. Of course; back when Naraku was fighting, he had used a detached leg of Zearth to win.

I willed the arms to detach their forearms, and they did. They were considerably shorter now.

The opponent hurled another punch my way; I sent a punch back and our "fists" met. However, its arms had blunt ends while Zearth's had sharp, pointy ends. Zearth's arm pierced through the other robot's and connected to it. I used this to my advantage by hurling it around and throwing it into a mountain like Kanna had during her fight.

As soon as it was down, I wasted absolutely no time in piercing its chest.

* * *

**Third Person POV**

Sango returned to the flower garden that evening. This time, she was alone. She started another fire and cooked another meal, and set places for both her deceased father and brother.

She and Kirara danced along to a rhythm only they were familiar with; but this time, she could not continue long enough to finish the dance.

Instead, she broke down to her knees mid-way and sobbed the rest of the night.


	8. Hakudoshi

It had been a week since that slayer boy died. Now I'm standing here at the edge of a cliff, just looking down at the world below me. Those stupid people, going on with their lives, not having a clue what's going on...

I don't wanna die for them.

Fuck this. I don't want to be a hero. Why?! Why me? Why am I the one who's gonna die regardless of whether I fight or not? Why not them? Why do they get to carry on living, huh?

"Yo."

I jumped; that was Dung Beetle's voice. "Get away from me!" I screamed at him. "I'm not riding that thing! I don't want to!"

"...It's not your time yet." he continued-I had never been more relieved in my entire life. "But it will be soon though. A week, tomorrow...hell, maybe even in a couple of hours. You might as well make the rest of your time well spent."

Then he teleported away.

The rest of my time? Well spent?

* * *

Ah, screams of the innocent. Music to my ears. There's nothing more stress relieving than chopping off a few heads.

I had come to a conclusion last night; if I'm gonna die, I'm taking a good number of people along with me. They are the reason I'm dying anyway. If they didn't need saving, there would be no need for Zearth or anyone to pilot it and that stupid contract wouldn't exist.

I smirked as I pointed my halberd at the child in front of me. It shivered and cried; good. Now it knows what it's like to be me. Hasn't it realized that I'm no older than it is? And yet, here I am, first forced to be Naraku's slave, now forced to give my life for a bunch of undeserving little humans.

But something chopped my halberd in half before I could kill the kid. A wind blade. I narrowed my eyes and looked up at my "sister".

"Stay out of this, Kagura." I growled. "Let me do what the fuck I want with my last moments alive."

I leapt at the kid with my bare hands, but Kagura punched me aside before I could get to it. Damn bitch! Now that she had her heart back, there was nothing I could threaten her with!

"What is wrong with you?!" I screamed at her. Now the kid had gotten away! "I'm gonna die anyway! Let me take some people with me! You wouldn't want your little brother do die alone, do you?"

Kagura shook her head at me. "You're such a fucking idiot."

"Oh, I'm the idiot now?" I scoffed. "You're the one who's defending them, when we're giving our lives for them and they're not even grateful! Didn't you see how they attacked Kohaku while he was fighting? They attacked the same person that was protecting them!"

Kagura didn't answer me. This is weird. She has more mouth on her than everyone else I know combined. Kagura and silence don't go together.

"Why _aren't_ you angry?" I spat at her. "If you are, why aren't you acting more like it? You and everyone else! It's crazy! Kohaku just...sat there and fought, like he was fine with everything! Don't you get it? We're all going to die!"

"Not everyone is as simple minded as you are." she said to me.

Simple minded?

Well, I guess that's true. I am the youngest out of the entire crew. I haven't seen much in my short life. Never had the time to. But if I'm so simple minded, then why doesn't anyone care to explain to me what's going on so that I won't be so simple minded anymore?

"Tell me, is this going to save your life?" asked Kagura. I blinked. What was she talking about?

"No, but-"

"Is this gonna undo what's already been done? Is it gonna solve anything? No, it just results in more dead people. You're not making any fucking sense. When you have a problem, you're supposed to come up with a solution to it that solves it. You killing random people has nothing to do with what's going on."

I didn't get what she was trying to say. There wasn't any anger in her eyes, or sadness or anything. Just...determination.

Determination for what?

"Come with me." she motioned for me to follow her.

"What?"

"I said come with me, dammit." she rolled her eyes. "I'm your big sister. Is that too much to ask?"

I scoffed at her. My big sister, huh? That was true, but since when did we treat each other like siblings?

* * *

"Kanna killed seven thousand people while she was fighting." Kagura noted absent-mindedly while staring at the downpour outside of the cave we were taking shelter in.

I scoffed. "And you're telling me this because?"

"All in all, I think roughly about ten thousand people have died so far during the fights." she continued, ignoring my question. "I'm only going by Dung Beetle's calculations. One careless move from any of us could easily mulitiply that number."

"So what?" I kicked a stray pebble. "Let them die. I don't know why you care."

Kagura chuckled; not because she found anything funny. It was more of the forced chuckle people have when trying to keep their tempers under control.

"You don't get it, do you? Didn't you pay any attention to what Naraku used to say?!" she began to raise her voice. "We. Have. Enemies. Now. Those around us have begun to recognize that we're often crossing paths with Zearth; they're connecting the dots!"

That got my attention. I did remember Naraku saying something about not getting caught because it was never a good thing to make yet another enemy.

Kagura shook her head. "You've only been working with Naraku for a short time so maybe you don't understand; but every single person you kill has people more than willing to avenge them. They all have friends, parents, siblings, families-all their lives get turned upside down by the death of one person. Don't think they won't come after you, because they definitely will. Retaliatory wars are the worst. One thing happens, someone wants revenge and kills someone else, and then that person's friends want revenge and kill the other person, and so on and so forth. We don't need that. So don't go around recklessly killing people! You don't know who knows who."

Come after me? I wish they would. And like I said, I'm gonna die soon anyway, so there really won't be much for them to come after.

"And if they don't come after you, they'll cause problems for the people who knew you that were left behind." Kagura added, as if reading my mind. I scoffed.

"So what's the point of you telling me this, anyway?"

Kagura glared at me.

"Warning me, keeping me close to you like you wanna keep an eye on me or protect me-could it be that watching Sango interact with Kohaku made you develop some sisterly feelings for the only relative you have left?" I taunted her, smirking. "Oh Kagura, how touching!"

Kagura just turned away silently while I cackled. Her silence was bothering me more than I cared to admit; maybe there was some truth in what I had said? Nah, it couldn't be. I cackled louder and louder to drown out those thoughts.

* * *

Dung Beetle didn't teleport us straight to the cockpit this time; instead, he teleported us outside of Zearth, where we could see three demons talking among themselves.

"This is the problem I was talking about. Take care of it; I'll be back when it's time to fight." he then vanished.

The three demons appeared to be some sort of birds; I could only guess because they had wings. There were two male demons and one female; the female was much louder than the others. After they finished conversating, the female turned to us, smirking.

"Goddamn." she licked her lips. "So which one of you is the leader?"

"State your business." Sesshomaru stepped forward; he probably was apprehensive about these three, like we all were.

The girl raised her eyebrow. "Uh, I believe my question came first! So what, are you the leader?"

"No he isn't!" Inuyasha answered, growling at his brother. "There is no leader. What the fuck do you want?"

The winged demon tilted her head, then chuckled. "Okay, okay, no need to get angry. I apologize; I was rude. My name is Seiko and these are my brothers Takeo and Hiroshi. All we really want is to...examine this thing."

"And why the hell would we let you do that?" I snapped. The tallest one-the one named Takeo-stepped forward.

"Because this thing killed our family." he answered bluntly. Hiroshi put his head down and stared at his feet; Seiko slapped her forehead.

"Dammit, Takeo. You could've at least tried to say it with some tact." she sighed. "But yes, what he's saying is true. This thing killed our entire family; we were lucky we weren't there when it happened. Us three are the only survivors."

Kagura growled a bit. "So what, do you want revenge?"

"No...please, no." Hiroshi spoke up after having been quiet the whole time. "We don't want any trouble; we're not going to jump to any conclusions. We just wanna know what's happening to us and what's going on. Please. We're coming to you in peace."

Everyone looked at each other; silently communicating their feelings through their eyes. It seemed they came to a mutual conclusion that these three did have a right to know.

"This thing...is not a demon nor a human. It's not alive." Kagome stepped closer to the bird demons.

Seiko blinked. "It's...not alive? What is it then?"

"It's more of a weapon. A weapon that you control from the inside; it's called a robot." the teenage girl explained. "And this robot's name is Zearth."

"Inside, huh?" Seiko tapped her chin. "Can you take us there? It's fascinating, and could be useful."

Kagome shook her head no. "We're not capable of that. We...we're just pawns. Only Dung Beetle can do that."

"Dung Beetle? You mean the weird looking thing that comes when you call for it?''

I shrugged. "Someone call him."

Immediately everyone began to shout his name; it took a while for him to appear, but once Rin started to call for him, he appeared from seemingly out of thin air-right in front of Takeo's nose.

"Yo." he greeted, causing Takeo to step back in surprise. "I see you brats haven't taken care of these three. What's wrong with you all?"

"So...you're little Dung Beetle, huh?" Seiko noted, examining the mouse-like creature.

"Hey, hey!" Dung Beetle protested. "None of this "little" stuff."

Seiko blinked, taken aback. "Okay, Dung Beetle-"

"That's _Lord _Dung Beetle to you!" he snapped. Seiko stared at him in silence and then cleared her throat.

"Um...okay...? Well...do you understand our proposition?"

"Are you idiots or what?" replied Dung Beetle. "Didn't you hear the brats? You can't control this thing! How can a monkey understand the tools of God?"

"We don't mind that." whispered Hiroshi. "As long as we can make a deal with...you or your...people."

"My people? You mean, me representing the other world?"

"Yes."

Dung Beetle laughed loudly. "You don't understand anything. If I was an alien of sorts, I could just turn this Earth into a colony and kill all of you. Ah shit, I said too much."

Suddenly, the one named Takeo aimed what looked like a sword at Dung Beetle. This only caused him to snicker.

"So what, you're trying to threaten me into giving you what you want? Go ahead, attack me. Try it."

To prove his point, Dung Beetle purposely flew at Takeo's sword-and to everyone's surprise, the sword just went right through him like he wasn't even there.

"You wanna see more? Hey, one of you!" he turned to us. "Attack me!"

I wasted no time in chopping at him with my naginata; just like before, it went through him like he was made of air. Kagura threw some wind blades at him; they had no effect whatsoever.

"Like I told you; I'm not a being from this world. Nothing from this Earth can harm me or Zearth."

"I understand your point." Hiroshi said softly, stepping in front of his brother. "But we've lost everything to this...Zearth. Please at least find it in your heart to allow us to understand the situation, Mr. Dung Beetle."

"Mr., huh?" Dung Beetle sounded as if he was in deep thought. "That's not so bad. Hmph...you got a point there anyway...alright, I changed my mind."


	9. Hakudoshi2

"It's...incredible..." Seiko said in awe, her eyes as round as saucers and seemingly unable to pick up her jaw. I guess the view from inside the cockpit was unlike anything she'd ever experienced; even being a bird, she had probably never been able to fly up quite this high.

The screen now showed the enemy robot; a white thing that looked like an onion with fins.

"Let the games begin." chuckled Dung Beetle. For a moment there, my vision went blurry. This can't be real. If I win, I die. If I lose, I die. If I don't fight, I still die.

No...I won't accept it.

"Calm down." I heard Kagura say to me. She must have noticed how I was grinding my teeth. "For now, just wait for the enemy to make some kind of movement."

"We told the people in this area to evacuate because there was gonna be a fight." explained Hiroshi. "So if there are no open spaces, you can just crush houses. They'll be empty."

_Crunch._

"The enemy moved!" Inuyasha shouted. My palms slowly became sweaty; I can't believe this. I have to fight just to die?

"Hakudoshi, retreat a few steps." I heard Kagura instruct me. What was she doing? Was she trying to...help me? Guide me? I did as she told me to, regardless of my confusion.

"Hey! Watch where you're stepping!" she screamed. I had accidentally stepped on some humans; I could hear their screams of terror and agony resonating in my ears.

This time, the screams of the innocent did not put me at ease. Those screams now filled my heart with terror.

Suddenly, the monk pointed at the sky. "It's flying!"

"Huh?" I had been so distracted, I did not notice the enemy move. Sure enough, this "robot" could fly. I panicked and fired laser beams at it. But then, we heard fluttering.

There was a mass of flying demons next to us, all charging at the enemy. Together, they unleashed attack after attack after powerful attack. The fire left behind by the explosions were almost beautiful; in a sick way.

"Don't turn back yet, Hakudoshi." Kagura said to me firmly. Dammit. She must've predicted I'd try to escape.

"Hey...I know them!" Seiko exclaimed. "They all came out together? That's incredible! And they're all daiyoukai too!"

Maybe...just maybe, those youkai can defeat the enemy. But what happens if they do? Will I be able to survive?

"Hakudoshi!" Kagura's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "There are people evacuating to the mountains, so head for the sea."

I gulped; before I did that, I needed to know something. "Dung Beetle?" my voice was trembling. "Will...will I survive?"

He hesitated before answering. "The answer to that is obvious."

What? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Before I got a chance to ask, something bumped against us violently. The enemy robot that had not moved in the past ten minutes had reappeared; it was completely unharmed. It shot a laser at the youkai that were attacking it; trapping them inside a barrier. Then it floated over the youkai, and brought itself down on them, crushing them beneath it with its massive weight.

The youki we felt was gone. They were all dead.

"Heh. Maybe I should've been more specific." Dung Beetle spoke up. "Me and Zearth are not the only ones that cannot be harmed by anything on this Earth. None of the enemy robots can be touched by the likes of you either; that's why you're using Zearth to fight it. Those other robots can only be harmed by this robot right here; this Zearth, and vice versa. If it's not from this world, you can't harm it."

No way. No way.

I can't do this. I'm frozen stiff. The enemy robot has me entangled in what looks like spider-webs; luckily, I broke free of it and relentlessly pounded it with lasers while punching and kicking it nonstop at the same time. Its armor was coming off piee by piece; so was Zearth's armor because of the force I was putting into the attacks.

Finally, when enough armor had been pulled off, I saw the round "vital area" that I needed to destroy in order to win. Without thinking, I reached for it. I had the vital spot right there in my hand.

But I didn't crush it.

"What are you doing?" Kagura shouted at me. "Crush it! That's how you win!"

But...but the moment I crush it, I will die. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna crush it.

"I...I'm not gonna die!" I yelled before turning around with the sphere still in my hand. I ran. I ran and ran until I stopped by a village that hadn't been evacuated yet. Then I used my free hand to tear apart the houses.

Miroku cleared his throat. "Hakudoshi, if you keep running, we're gonna reach the 48 hour limit and both our Earth and the enemy's Earth will be destroyed. You're not changing anything."

I'm still gonna die? I know. I know that. But...but not now. Not right now. Later.

Through the screen, we could all see the little boy I held in Zearth's other hand. He shrieked and shrieked; tears were running down his cheeks.

"I'm not gonna die for you!" I screamed as I crushed the brat with Zearth's bare hand. Then I threw his bloody corpse into a random field before taking off, searching for more people. I see demons in a cave.

"Hey, you fucking brat!" I heard Koga shout. "Not there!"

Why not? I'll do as I please. "I'm not dying alone...you're all coming with me!"

"Didn't you hear me, you sick brat?! Not there!"

I ignored him and began to reach inside the cave-but a sharp pain in my side prevented me from doing so. After my body hit the ground, I looked up to see Koga standing over me; he had stabbed me with the sword he keeps by his side and had never used before.

"K-Koga-kun..." Kagome whispered.

So the cave was his little home, huh?

A tear slid down my cheek as I realized that I had crushed the "vital spot" I was holding in my hand by accident when Koga stabbed me.

How ironic.

* * *

**(Normal POV)**

"You guys are lucky he'd already had the vital spot and crushed it before he died, even if it was by accident." Dung Beetle droned. "Usually, if the pilot gets attacked while on duty, you lose the battle."

"So, if something happens to the current pilot, nobody can take over for that round?"

"Nope. One pilot per battle. If the pilot dies early, there's no one there to operate Zearth; it's just too easy for the enemy to kill you. So for future reference, unless you wanna lose, don't interfere with the current pilot."

No one spoke a word as they watched Kagura pick up her brother's bloody body and cradle it like a baby. This was the most unexpected reaction; the two had never been close.

But then again, Kagura did just lose the last remaining member of her family without ever getting a chance to be a family.

"Dung Beetle?" she spoke. "What happens to the body after we leave?"

"If you had a family, it would go to your house." he replied. "We can keep you inside Zearth, or just have the body disappear altogether, which is what happens most of the time."

"Lave his body with me." said Kagura. "I'll cremate him."

Eleven pairs of eyes turned to the wind witch; all holding various different emotions in them. Whether they were shocked, sad, confused, understanding, or even indifferent; none of them had anticipated this.

"Suit yourself. Go right on ahead." said Dung Beetle.

And no one could decipher the meaning behind this action either.


	10. Jaken

"Master Jaken!" I heard Rin crying at the top of her lungs as she frantically ran to me. "Master Jaken!"

I sighed; she pesters me constantly. "What is it now?"

"It's Moriko..." she clung to me as if in fear, causing me to jump at the sudden contact. "Moriko...she says...she says..."

Moriko was a small brat Rin met at a human village. Ever since they met, they were constantly together; they were good buddies. What could she possibly have done to upset Rin like this?

"Moriko..." Rin sniffled, finally letting go of me. "She says Lord Sesshomaru killed her father."

"What?!" My eyes widened. One of the reasons Rin and Moriko bonded was that they were both orphans; I was forced to sit there and listen to them blab endlessly about their parents.

I recall her saying her mother died during childbirth and that her father raised her. She was orphaned about a year ago when her father was killed. She didn't say anything after that. She said she was hiding inside a hut watching as it took place, but would not reveal the identity of the killer.

"And Rin told her to stop lying!" she continued. "Lord Sesshomaru would never do that! He only kills people if they're dangerous and trying to hurt him or someone else! He would never just slaughter an innocent person for no reason!"

"...But daddy didn't even do anything..." I heard a small voice whisper; it was the child, Moriko, who had finally caught up to Rin. It seemed she had run after her. "He-he was a soldier, and the man was...looking for a boat or something and intruded...daddy asked him what he was doing, and then he...he strangled him to death for no reason."

A boat...yes, I remember now. That was back when my Lord was looking for the Tetsusaiga and we did not yet know about the jewel in Inuyasha's eye. There were samurai in the way and my Lord killed them and thought nothing of it.

He doesn't kill so thoughtlessly now, though he still is ruthless.

But to think that the man was this girl's father...

"Master Jaken!" Rin's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "You've been serving Lord Sesshomaru for a very long time; would he ever do something like that? Is he that kind of person?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but could not. I looked at Rin; she was trembling with anticipation for my answer. I gazed at the girl named Moriko. She looked so broken.

The girl knew Lord Sesshomaru; she had Rin had played together in his presence, and she never pointed him out. I can only imagine what was going through her mind the whole time.

And now she had trusted Rin enough to tell her what she didn't tell anyone else. If Rin rejected her...

But then I looked into Rin's eyes, and choked. She never knew anything about Lord Sesshomaru besides what she observed and what she was told. She never saw him when he was taking care of business; she actually understood very little. She definitely did not know anything about his monstrous deeds. If she found out about who he really was, it would break her heart. It would destroy her.

"Of..." Unable to look her in the eyes, I averted my gaze from her before answering. "Of course not! Lord Sesshomaru would never-why, how can you even suggest such a thing?"

Rin let go of me, relieved. "See?! Master Jaken's been with Lord Sesshomaru for a very long time, he would know!"

"But...but Rin, I was there-" Moriko started, but was cut short.

"You must have missed something; your dad must have been doing something to deserve it!" Rin turned her back on the girl and began to walk back towards our campsite. Moriko had been left behind. She was now curled up in a ball, crying.

I gulped, the feeling of guilt overwhelming me.

I'm so sorry, Moriko. I'm sorry I did this to you.

But I don't want Rin to go through the same thing I've been through.

* * *

"Master Jaken?" Rin nudged me that night while we were about to go to sleep.

I growled in frustration. "What now?"

"You would...wouldn't lie to me, would you?"

Again, I sighed. Yes, I lied to her. But there she is now, looking at me hopefully, talking in whispers...

"No! Have I ever?" I scowled. "Now just go to sleep."

The girl smiled, seemingly content with my answer. As she drifted off into dreamland, I began to think about the person that broke my faith.

My father.

* * *

Before I followed Lord Sesshomaru and idol-worshipped him, there was someone else that I used to reserve that kind of treatment for. He was nowhere near as strong as my Lord, and even back then, I knew that. I knew my father was no daiyokai, but I didn't care. I idolized him just as much as I do Lord Sesshomaru today.

It wasn't the physical strength that I admired.

My father was the leader of our colony; a king of sorts. He was brave, smart, and fearless. At bedtime, he'd tell me stories of his journeys. He'd tell me about the sacrifices he made for my mother and me and how he overcame youkai much stronger than him with his courage. I'd always drift off to sleep dreaming of growing up to be just like him.

And so, when I finally became old enough to go out with him and his men on their "adventures", I wanted desperately to follow him.

"_No!_" He screamed so loud I could hear an echo ringing throughout the area.

That was the first time I had ever heard my father raise his voice about anything. My father never spoke much. He always carried with him an air of pride and dignity; he never lost his composure. So I decided not to question him; I was a bit too scared to.

I questioned my mother about this that evening; at first she was silent. It confused me terribly. But then she spoke up.

"Nobility is something one is born into." she had sighed. "Not something that is earned."

That was all she said. I tried prodding her for more, but she wouldn't talk. She refused to explain to me what she meant and how it was related to my father's actions.

* * *

I couldn't fight. I was the prince, but the other young boys could all easily defeat me. I was weak. Not fit to be the future ruler. They didn't like it. They demanded that I prove myself worthy. I wanted to defend my honor and live up to my father's name. I wanted to be worthy of being his son.

One day, I lost a fight to a boy named Daichi; he and a few of his friends had been challenging me constantly. They were among the people that disapproved of me and thought I didn't deserve the future throne. I tried and tried to be strong enough to win, but it was never enough.

I lost so much I became a joke. Soon they began to push me around and beat me up just for the fun of it. They had a good time watching me squirm; punishing me for stealing the throne from them that should've been theirs.

I never told anyone about this. If anybody knew that I, the prince, was being bullied around by a group of commoners and that I couldn't even defend myself I'd be even more of a joke than I already was.

"You're just like your father!" Daichi sneered at me one day while he was pushing my face into the dirt with his foot. "All talk, to action! You have the blood that makes you what you are, but you have absolutely nothing else to back up that title! Or do you, huh? Are you different from your father?" he pushed my face harder into the ground. "If you are, then prove it!"

It took me a while to respond because I couldn't understand why he would say that. About me, yes, but my father?

"What are you talking about?" I spat out the dirt in my mouth. I aimed for his face but missed. "My father is-"

"-Fake!" He slapped me across the face, holding me up my the collar. "You'll see it one day. I know you think you're gonna be some great ruler or something because of your genes, but guess what? Those genes came from someone who's just as much of a loser as you are! You're never gonna change."

"Fuck you!" I squirmed, but he just laughed. "I'm gonna make you regret that!"

He laughed even harder. His friends joined him, their combined laughter hurting my ears.

"I'm gonna make you all regret laughing at me!" I snarled at them. "You'll see someday!"

I never questioned my father about their words because that would mean admitting that I had been pushed around. However, I did begin to think about how I never saw any action from my father that matched his stories, and wondering about the reason he didn't want me around on his trips.

* * *

He died.

My father. He died. He has been murdered.

By Daichi's father, out of all people.

It turned out that Daichi's father, who was my father's best friend his whole life, was the one doing all the work while my father took the credit. He was nobility, but he didn't have the ability to do what was required of him; so this was how it had been all along.

Until today, when Daichi's father finally got sick of it and decided to kill him. Then he told everyone the truth. Perhaps he thought that this way, he might become the new ruler.

Unfortunately for him, by then, I was old enough to take my father's place, and the law made it so that I rose to the throne, no one else.

"Just like your dad." Daichi had glared at me that day. The look of resentment in his eyes was so intense it made me shiver in fear, recalling all of his torture in my mind. "You're gonna be just like your dad. You got this position because of your blood; you're never gonna be able to handle it. You're gonna fail, just like him."

I gulped, and waited until he was out of earshot before replying. "I'm gonna make you take that back."

* * *

I cannot describe how hard it was for me to try to clear my father's-or, rather my own-name. No one saw me as Jaken. They only saw me as my father's son. And now that everyone knew the truth about him, they all looked down on me. They expected me to do the same.

At first, I vowed that I'd prove to them they were wrong. I'd become the best ruler there ever was, and then they'd all see differently.

But I just wasn't strong enough. Nor was I exceptionally bright. In the few instances I did actually do something impressive, they all turned away and refused to acknowledge me. It just wasn't good enough.

I hated my life more and more by the day; their sneers and laughter were driving me insane. I think there definitely were some plans to assassinate me. I didn't want this. I wanted to go back.

I just wanted to be that little boy again, the child who dreamed about becoming a great man like his father.

And then, that battle came. We were losing. As of now, I don't even remember who we were fighting. All I know is, as all hope seemed lost, a man walked by and destroyed all our enemies in a single blow.

That man was the one and only Lord Sesshomaru.

At that first glance, I saw in my Lord what I used to envision my father as, except this time, it was _real_. Their personalities were strikingly similar, but my Lord was everything my father was not.

I felt something I had not felt for a very, very long time; hope. And so I left my so-called "people" and followed the strange man. He actually _allowed_ it!

I traveled with him and after a while, it was like I was back in the past again. It was like I was that same kid again; by day, admiring someone, and by night, dreaming of doing the same. It was a matter of time until the memory of my father and past became very small, distant nothings in the back of my mind.

* * *

It's been so long since then; but when I do think back to it, I can still feel the pain like it was just yesterday.

That is why I had to hurt that other child.

I know what it's like to find out that someone you looked up to is not who you thought they were. It destroys all the faith you have in the world. Rin envisions Lord Sesshomaru as a hero of sorts; a savior. Reality is that he's actually much more of a villain. His evil deeds far ourweigh the small amount of good he's done. He'd rather not "save" anybody...but all Rin knows is that he keeps saving _her_, and she goes by what she can see.

If she found out about everything she never knew, it would utterly destroy her.


	11. Jaken2

When we woke up the next morning, the first thing we heard was Inuyasha's ranting as their group happened to walk by us.

"Goddammit, what is with him?!" He shouted angrily, holding his bloody side. "What did I ever do to him to make him come at me like this all the time?!"

"Inuyasha, calm down." Kagome said, motioning for him to sit down. "You're not doing any good for your injuries."

So that was where my Lord went last night. To fight his brother. So typical of him. But hadn't they noticed me, Rin and Ah-Un? Why are they settling down here? I don't wanna hear his complaining!

I prepared to walk up to him and scream at him, but then I noticed that Rin had beaten me there. She was standing there watching them silently.

"Oh, Rin!" Kagome said, seemingly startled. "Are you looking for Sesshomaru?"

Rin didn't answer. Instead, she approached Inuyasha with an expression on her face I didn't understand.

"Did...did Lord Sesshomaru do this?" she asked.

The hanyou scoffed. "What do you think, kid? Hells yes, he did."

Rin paused before speaking. "Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, because he's an asshole! He's always doing this kind of shit."

"Inuyasha! Don't swear in front of her!" Kagome scolded him.

"Well it's true!" He retorted. "Have you forgotten the numerous times he's tried to kill you, Kagome? Even when you first met, and he didn't even know you!"

Rin interrupted his rambling. "...Lord Sesshomaru...tried to kill Kagome?"

"He has this thing about humans." Inuyasha replied. "He hates them, always says they're weak and whatnot. He's always on my case about being half-human. But what confuses me though, is that he travels with you!" His eyes landed on Rin. "And yet, towards any other human, he's still a complete monster. Hell, not just humans, actually-any and everyone he meets!"

"Um, Inuyasha?" The monk cleared his throat. "I don't think she's aware of this."

I looked at Rin; her face was getting more and more twisted by the minute.

"What are you talking about? She must know; she's always with him!" Inuyasha replied. "She's had more than enough time to witness it! Or does he only act like an ass when she's not around? What, does he play hero or something and act like all the people he's killing are villains?"

"Inuyasha, stop." Kagome seemed to have caught onto the way Rin was acting. "I think-"

"What the hell, he is the fucking villain!" the hanyou continued. "He used my mother's memory to torture us just so he could get the jewel in my eye, and then when the nothing woman tried to help me, he killed her! He killed her just for having compassion, I still can't-"

"Inuyasha, sit!"

He plummeted face-first towards the ground. At this point, Rin looked like she couldn't take any more. She turned and started to run. I had no idea where she was going.

"Rin!" I shouted, running after her. She didn't answer. "Rin!"

* * *

Rin came to a stop at a village; Moriko's village to be exact. Thank God she stopped, though. I was starting to feel like I was gonna die.

"Rin!" I scolded her when I caught up. "What do you think you're doing?! Running off like that!"

"Master Jaken." She addressed me with a whisper. I felt my body stiffen. "Did you lie to me yesterday?"

My jaw dropped. I looked away from her. I tried and tried to think of a good response, when a small voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Lie about what, Rin?" It was that kid, Moriko. She had come out of her hut after hearing all the commotion.

Rin ignored her presence entirely. "Master Jaken, please! Look me in the eyes! Tell me!"

Just then, a glowing ball of light came down and landed beside us; the light dissolved and it was none other than Lord Sesshomaru. He had come looking for us.

"Jaken. Rin." He commanded after briefly surveying the scenario before him. "Let us go."

Imagine his surprise when no one budged. We all ignored his command; there were more important issues at hand.

"Yes, Master Jaken." Moriko spoke up, looking at me with resentment in her eyes. She knew. She saw me there with him when my Lord killed her father. And I had lied about it in front of her. "Tell her. Tell her the truth."

My silence alone was enough of an answer. Rin closed her eyes to blink away tears.

"Why aren't you talking, Master Jaken? It can't be-"

"Or better yet," Moriko cut her short and looked at my Lord. "Why doesn't he tell you himself?"

We all turned to Lord Sesshomaru, who still seemed a bit confused. As confused as he could seem, that is.

"Oh my God, it's true." Rin grabbed her head like she had a massive headache. I don't blame the girl.

"Yes, it's true, Rin." Moriko said to her. "You wanted to know, so I told you. The person who killed my father is the man standing behind you. That's why I didn't want to play near him."

My Lord's eyes widened a bit. He must have caught on to what they were talking about.

"How could you doubt me, Rin? Why would I lie about that?" Moriko's voice was breaking. She herself was forming tears. "I thought you, out of all people, would understand! You've had the same thing happen to you!"

"B-but, Lord Sesshomaru is not like-"

"Rin, stop denying it!" Moriko shouted. "He's no different from the bandits that killed your parents."

Rin had no reply. Her only response was to sob, not holding back anything anymore.

"Why are you taking his side, Rin?" Moriko also started to bawl. "People like him are the reason people like us have to suffer. You should know that! You've been through the same thing! Or are you in on it with him, huh? Is that why? Are you the kind of person he is, too? Are you the same as him? Cause that would explain a lot! Did you know him back then when he killed my father, Rin? Were you planning it with him?!"

The child seemed to have lost her mind. She kept shouting endlessly, babbling on and on about any and everything. At that moment, Rin started to run off again, leaving the other child to her sorrow.

"Dammit, Rin!" I took off after her. "You can't just keep running off every time!"

"Rin!" Lord Sesshomaru's voice was firm. I think, for one of the very few times in his life, he didn't know how to react to a situation. "Stop."

Rin did stop; only to turn around, glance at my Lord, and then run off again, still crying. Of course, I followed.

"Yo."

We didn't have time to get very far. Dung Beetle teleported himself right in front of us.

"Who heard the voice?"

I nodded, too distraught to say anything.

"Alright, the enemy is here. Time to go."

Time to go. Time for me to die.

Why? Why at this moment? Why now?


	12. Jaken3

The enemy is just standing there, not doing anything.

I'm not ready for this.

The others must have sensed the tension between Rin, Lord Sesshomaru and I. Her tears hadn't completely dried when we got here. They chose not to say anything, though.

Not even when I turned Zearth around and walked away from where the enemy was standing.

"Um, Jaken?" Seiko spoke up-those three were with us again, after having told the people in this area to evacuate. "Where are you going?"

"To my old village." I answered. Several eyes widened. Of course, it came as a surprise to them that there was a time I did not travel with Lord Sesshomaru.

The one named Hiroshi studied where I was going and coughed nervously. "But we haven't evacuated that area yet."

"Goddammit!" Seiko shouted. "Dung Beetle, please teleport me and my brothers outside so we can warn whoever's there!"

Dung Beetle gave them what they wanted; I shrugged. It didn't matter. I knew my old "colony" better than they did. Daichi...I know where he is for some reason. I can also sense where his little crew is too. Must be Zearth's powers. I'm gonna go see them.

They're gonna die with me.

"Master Jaken?" Rin got out of her seat and walked up beside me. "What are you doing?"

I ignored her. I spotted the smallest one out of Daichi's crew; this particular one used to love strangling me.

"There." I said before I tore the roof off the house. It seemed the bird demons had been too late, or weren't successful in trying to evacuate the place. Everyone was still here. They all stared up at me with their yellow eyes, their green skin identical to mine; and memories of the past flooded my mind.

I simply slapped away the other toads around the one that I wanted. They couldn't even survive one slap from Zearth.

"What the hell?!" Inuyasha had shouted, obviously confused. Everyone seemed a little bewildered, even my Lord.

"Jaken!" Lord Sesshomaru called, using the authorative tone he used with me to get my attention.

I sighed. "My Lord, this humble Jaken has served you faithfully for years. My loyalty to you remains, and it shall still remain after my death."

"What are you saying?" I could envision his eyes narrowing. I didn't dare look at him.

"I cannot-will not follow your orders this time, my Lord." I replied. "Not this time. These are my last moments alive."

Did he expect that from me? Or did he think I'd follow his commands even during my dying moments when I'm dealing with my most personal issues? I don't know. I just hope he didn't get the wrong message. This doesn't mean that I am no longer loyal to him. It's just that this situation is different.

I held the boy in my hands and used Zearth's fingers to strangle his puny little neck. Oh, this felt so wonderful. We have switched places. I gradually increased Zearth's pressure on his neck until his head popped off of his body.

After throwing away the headless body, I left that area to go find someone else. The one that used to stomp on my face. And when I found him, not only did I stomp him to death, I also stomped the bodies of everyone there with him that was in my way.

"Master Jaken!" Rin shrieked in terror.

The same people that called me weak and helpless were now running from me, crying.

"I told you." I found myself saying out loud. "I told you I'd make you regret laughing at me. Who's laughing now, huh?! I am!"

I pounded at the imps mercilessly, emotions taking over me. I laughed at them. I laughed at them the same way they used to laugh at me. And for some strange reason, I started to cry at the same time. Laughing, sobbing, and choking.

"You said I was weak-I was uselss-who's the weak one now?!" I screamed as I made my way towards Daichi's place. His father would be there. I know he will be. Their deaths won't be quick like the others. Theirs will be slow and torturous.

I used Zearth's sharp arm to pierce through Daichi's house. What do you know? I had stabbed through Daichi's father in the process. His body was hanging on Zearth's finger. I flung him off to the side.

There. Daichi. I can see him, huddled in a corner, shivering. I smirked.

Slowly, I reached out for him and picked him up in Zearth's hand. he rubbed his eyes and stared directly into my-no, zearth's eyes. He blinked three times before speaking.

"J-J-Jaken?" He whimpered. "Is...is that you, Jaken?"

"What is this?!" I shouted at Dung Beetle, who had returned alone after teleporting the three bird demons outside. "He can see me?"

"Of course he can't see you, you dumb fuck." Dung Beetle replied in his usual manner. "He's obviously going by his gut instincts. Where do you know him from?"

Gut instincts?

Daichi's intuition's telling him that I'm the one controlling this thing?

That means I had left enough of a mark in his memory for him to still remember me. I was a big deal to him, huh?

"Jaken, I'm sorry." Daichi choked out before burying his face in his hands, trying to hide his tears. "I'm so, so, so sorry."

Inuyasha chose to speak up right then. "Hey Jaken, you got bullied, didn't you?"

Everyone's heads turned towards him. I gritted my teeth.

"Yeah, you did." He continued. "I can tell better than anyone else. You're acting like I used to...except you're actually carrying out your fantasies."

I looked over at him. He was biting his lip.

"So. If you knew...if you had been through the same thing, why did you do it, toad? Huh?" He shouted. "Why did you stand there and cheer Sesshomaru on while he constantly tortured me for no fucking reason?! If you knew what it was like to go through that, why did you fucking help him along, huh?"

"What do you want me to say?! It felt good, alright!" I screeched at him as loud as I possibly could. "It felt good! After all that, being put down for so long, I got to be the one causing the pain for a change, not someone else! For once, I wasn't the victim. It made me feel better, and bigger. Is that what you wanted to hear?! Okay, you got it, a fucking confession! Now fuck off!"

I swiftly turned back around and returned my attention to Daichi, who I had ignored for too long. I readied Zearth's sword-like fingers and plunged them in his direction-but it didn't hit him. It hit something else.

Someone else had gotten in the way. A female's arm had been cut off.

For a moment, I couldn't breathe.

"Mother?"

"Dammit." I said through clenched teeth. "Dammit. Move! Why is she defending him?!"

I felt Rin tug at my sleeve. "Master Jaken. They are sorry. You got what you wanted."

She was right. I did. I vowed to make them sorry for laughing at me, and it effected Daichi so much that not only did he apologize crying, he could sense that I was controlling Zearth.

But that wasn't enough.

"You think you can get away with it just cause of a measly apology, huh?! It doesn't work like that!" I shouted as I pulled my mother apart from Daichi with Zearth's large fingers. She was still struggling and pounding at me with the arm she had left.

After carefully placing her on the ground, I turned to Rin. "Sorry, Rin. But I'm a murderer too." She let go of me, her eyes full of hopelessness. "I have to be. This is the only way I can get any respect."

I wasted no time in squeezing Daichi to death in Zearth's large, metal grip. His eyes bulged out and popped out of the sockets before the rest of his body basically exploded in my grip.

"Master Jaken, please! This isn't you!" Rin was at my side again, tugging on my sleeve. "Please be yourself again! I don't like this, this isn't Rin's Master Jaken..."

"Rin..." I sighed. "You're the only one on Earth who is fine with me being that way. For everyone else, I'm a joke-"

"Do you think this Sesshomaru would have allowed you to serve him if you were a joke?" A cold, deep voice interrupted me mid-sentence. I turned my head to the speaker, my jaw hanging open.

My Lord?

"I let you follow me when you asked; exactly as you were that day. I made no requests for you to change or become stronger." He continued. "There are plenty of strong demons everywhere. They are not hard to find. My father had plenty of servants who were powerful in their own right. But they were not loyal to me. They were obligated to him."

Of course. I never noticed before.

My Lord never kept any servants around; only myself. There was no doubt that his father had left behind countless followers, all much stronger than me, smarter than me, more useful. But he didn't associate with any of them. He associated with me.

I never noticed before, but out of everyone who had worked for my Lord-whether willingly or unwillingly-I was the only one who did so because I looked up to Lord Sesshomaru himself and not because I looked up to his father.

From Totosai to Myoga to the demons who wanted to serve him during the fight against the panthers...they all did so because he was the Inu no Taisho's son.

I was the only one of them who saw him as Lord Sesshomaru and not a shadow of his father.

"I assumed you took pride in yourself and your position, Jaken." He spoke again.

I tried. But I didn't. But to know that my Lord kept me around for no other reason than that I was who I was-I was Jaken, toad youkai, servant of my Lord; not incredibly strong, not very smart, but fiercely loyal, honest to a fault, and clumsy-and he wanted it that way, did not want it changed, and he saw those traits as something to take _pride_ in was enough to crumble my earlier resolve.

To him and Rin, I was not a joke. I was not inferior. I did not have to become stronger, or better, or wiser. I was fine exactly as I am now.

"My Lord..." I breathed out. "Why couldn't you have told me that sooner? If I had known that before this whole thing happened, I think I would've been able to be happy with myself. But now...now it's too late. I've already done what I've done..."

"Too late for what, Master Jaken?" Rin grabbed my sleeve. "You still have time left. Not everybody is dead yet."

I gulped and nodded. To think I did all that for such petty insecurities.

"...Jaken." Hiroshi spoke up. "The enemy is coming this way."

My throat became dry. Solemnly, I turned to face the enemy and watched as the "robot" took flight. It then came down on me, crushing me. I choked and coughed at the pain in my chest.

I must continue to fight. If I don't, then everyone else up until this point has died in vain.

Regardless of the pain I felt, I willed Zearth to get up and kick the enemy in the shins, knocking it over. I hopped back up onto my-or Zearth's-feet. In the position we were in-the enemy on the ground and Zearth standing up, hovering over it-provided me with a clear view of my opponent's anatomy.

The vital spot I need to destroy to win; it's there in the center. I stabbed Zearth's sharp arms through its middle, drew it out, and then stabbed again with the other arm. I repeated this multiple times, just to make sure I had gotten the right spot.

Right now, I am more than I ever was in my whole life. A hero, if you will. Just a moment ago, I was a villain as feared as Naraku.

Not too long ago, I would've leapt at the chance to become either one of those two instead of myself.

But now I know that plain old Jaken had lived a life more worthy of living than any powerful demon. Your worth is not measured by how others see you, but how you see yourself. I know that now.

As I finished my battle, I looked up at the ceiling and closed my eyes. "Lord Sesshomaru. Rin. Thank you."

* * *

**(Normal POV)**

"L-Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin mumbled as she tilted her head back from where she was kneeling over Jaken's limp form. Out of the corner of her eye, she had seen a light. The all too familiar light that she remembered once waking up to.

Sesshomaru had drawn Tenseiga and was standing by Jaken.

Everyone started to talk among each other; they had forgotten about Sesshomaru's sword. If he was willing, maybe they would not have to die. Maybe they'd make it out of this alive after all!

Sensing their apprehension, Dung Beetle chuckled. "You'll get your answer."

And indeed, they got it. Sesshomaru swung Tenseiga over Jaken, where he saw the creatures from Hell collecting his soul. To his surprise, the sword of heaven did not cut through the messengers from the underworld. It just went right through them like they weren't there.

Jaken did not come back alive.

"That sword is from this dimension, even if it's from this Earth's heaven." said Dung Beetle. "It can't interfere when Zearth is absorbing someone's life force for the next round. Sorry."

Miroku turned to Sango with a frown on his face. "Sango..." he whispered.

"Hmm?"

"...How come Dung Beetle already knew about Tenseiga and what it was? No one told him about it."


	13. Rin

Rin couldn't do it.

I tried to go back to Lord Sesshomaru again after Master Jaken died. I tried to do the same thing I had always done when I was sad: cover it up by acting overly happy and trying to pretend nothing was wrong.

But I couldn't. I couldn't look at him without recalling everything that I had recently learned. I haven't figured out how to react yet. I'm not ready to make decisions.

So I just ran.

Oh Master Jaken. If you were here, at least you would've listened to Rin.

I ran and ran until I bumped into something; a leg covered in the silk of a kimono. I looked up and saw that lady that flies on a feather; Kagura.

"What are you doing?" she raised an eyebrow.

At first, I just stood there with my mouth open. Then I couldn't help but clutch her and break down to my knees, crying again. I've been doing that so much lately. I told myself I wouldn't.

She flinched a little bit, but didn't push me away or anything. "H-hey, kid..."

I clutched her harder and cried silently.

"Listen, I-what's going on? Why aren't you with Sesshomaru?"

I sniffled and blinked before I found my voice. "Rin can't be with Lord Sesshomaru right now."

"What are you talking about?" She bent down to my level so she could look me in the eyes. "Is this because of Jaken dying? Why would that keep you away from Sesshomaru?"

Her mention of Master Jaken almost made me burst into tears again, but I didn't. I just squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head no.

"Wait..." She spoke, a hint of understanding in her voice. "Does this have anything to do with what him and Inuyasha were talking about back there?"

I didn't answer; I didnt need to. She had figured this much out on her own.

* * *

By nightfall, she figured it out. There were parts of it she didn't understand, but as time passed, I grew more comfortable in her presence. She figured out most of it herself anyway, so there was no point in hiding the rest from her.

She had sighed heavily. Then she flew me on her feather to a field of white flowers.

"This is where I usually spend the night."

Did she know how much I loved flowers or something? In any case, it did cheer up up slightly to see so many of them and I started to play with them. I didn't know why she was keeping me by her side; but I really wasn't complaining. It was comforting.

"Time for bed, kid." She announced after a while. "Do you need like, a bedtime story or something? Is that what human kids like?"

I shook my head no. "Rin doesn't like bedtime stories."

"Why not?"

"They don't make sense to me." I stopped fiddling with the flowers in my hands. "They aren't right."

Kagura suddenly looked interested. "Oh? Why is that?"

"Mom and dad used to tell me bedtime stories back when they were alive." I started. "And in all of them...they have so many random people dying. But it's not the deaths themselves that bother me."

"Then what is it?"

I curled up in a ball and stared at my feet. "The story doesn't care about those people that die. The people listening to the stories don't notice them either. But when a main character dies, they get all affected...but to me, whether it's a main character dying or an anonymous side character, it's still the same thing."

Kagura closed her eyes. "So it's the attitude behind the stories you don't like. I can understand that."

"They're all people living and thinking in that fictional world; there shouldn't be any difference. But as long as the hero survives they say it's a happy ending, and if the hero dies it's a sad ending. I don't get it! To me, if anybody dies at all in the story, it's a sad ending. The only difference between those deaths is that the audience actually cares about the hero's death, but that never happens anyway."

I balled my hands up into fists. "Why do people think like that? Why do the people only care about the strong heros that end up happy? Why does no one care about characters and people like..." I hung my head defeatedly. "People like Master Jaken...and me?"

"That applies for people like me too." Kagura nodded. "That is, the villains."

I lifted my head up, kind of startled at her referring to herself as a villain. But I wasn't shocked or anything since I knew she worked for Naraku and she did kidnap me once before.

"A "happy" ending should have those characters ending happily as well because somebody in that world is crying over it." She continued. "But...it's like as long as the listener doesn't care about the character, it's not a problem and it goes unrecognized."

I nodded. "That's why I don't like them."

"If everyone could understand that, there would be a lot less problems." Kagura chuckled. "I came to recognize that a while ago. The only difference between the hero and the villain is who's telling the story. Everyone does what is in their own best interest and not the opponent's. I'm doing what's best for me, and so are they. For me to be happy, they have to be sad and for them to be happy...I have to be sad."

I kept listening to her, interested.

"Rin, do you know why I worked for Naraku?"

I shook my head no.

"He held my heart in his hands. He could kill me any time he wanted just by making a crushing motion with his hands if I didn't do what he told me to." My eyes widened. "So, if the "story" is being told from my perspective, I'm a symphathetic character and it's a happy ending if I'm free. But if it's from their perspective, I am someone who chose my one life over thousands of others out of fear and destroyed everyone else because of it, and it doesn't matter if I die or not. What makes the difference is whose side you choose to take; and people will usually, if not always, side with themselves."

I nodded slowly; I was beginning to understand what she was trying to say.

"People always choose to protect their own side instead of the other person's. I don't have a problem with that, but when I was first born...I didn't even think to put myself in the other person's shoes." She continued. "It wasn't until I started wodering why anyone couldn't see things from my point of view that I realized that I hadn't been trying to see things from anyone else's point of view either. The other person can be someone you are about too; and that's good. But you're angry about the type of people who don't even try to understand...like I used to."

"We assign importance to things." I began, agreeing. "When faced with the choice between the death of someone I know or the death of a stranger, I'll always choose the death of a stranger, even though they are both equal lives."

Kagura scoffed. "Fact is, life is equal; but people don't see it that way. If you say you do see all life as equal, you're obviously making an exception for your own life." Kagura closed her eyes. "Let's take away the opinions for a second and look at the facts. Factually, all living things exist as a part of a whole. If only one of two is going to survive..."

"...To the whole, it doesn't matter which one of the two it is." I finished where she left off. "But we're not the whole, we're individuals. So if it was you and another person, you'd choose for yourself to survive. Unless you really love the other person."

We sat in silence for the moment, just thinking things over. Then she spoke again.

"Rin. Do you hate Sesshomaru now?"

I shook my head no. "Rin could never hate Lord Sesshomaru."

"Are you angry at him?"

Again, I shook my head. "Not at him...just...upset, period."

"Think about this, Rin; there isn't a single living creature on Earth that doesn't survive without somehow stealing the lives of others."

I looked up at her, startled. What was she implying?

"All life forms depend on other life forms to get by. We eat other life forms, and to do that, we kill them." She kept saying. "People tend to forget what it means to eat something nowadays. All you did was kill something no different from you as a life form; just that you couldn't communicate with it. You are not more alive than it was; you just valued your life more. That's something you have to accept, Rin. It's just a part of life. Many lives have been sacrificed to keep us alive."

"I...I never thought of that."

"Countless lives have ended in order keep you and me alive. Your life doesn't belong only to you." Then she kind of smirked. "And if you're one of those people who try to deny this by saying that you didn't want to or choose to be born, then go ahead and choose death for yourself. There's no need to keep sacrificing other lives to support someone who is going to waste their life."

I gulped. She kind of scared me when she said that.

"I've caused I lot of trouble in my life for many people." Kagura sighed. "But I can't make it up to all of them, even though I recognize my mistakes. There are many things you just can't take back, such as killing someone. The only thing you can do from then on is to devote the rest of your life to helping someone the best you can. Or...in other words, just change your ways and live in a way you can be proud of from now on."

Then she turned and looked me square in the eyes. "I seriously think that's what Sesshomaru was doing with you, Rin."

That was the end of our conversation. But before I turned to go to sleep, I heard ruffling in the bushes.

Someone had been listening to our conversation, and now they were leaving. I could make out a tail and blue eyes.

Wasn't it that one man named Koga?


	14. Rin2

The next morning, Lady Kagura flew me to Lord Sesshomaru. The look on his face when we hopped off her feather was the most expressive I have ever seen him make.

"Yo." Kagura sure greeted him funny.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" I smiled, making sure to sound even more cheerful than I usually did, and ran to hug his leg.

He looked down at me with widened eyes. "...Rin?"

"No matter what he was in the past, Rin will always love Lord Sesshomaru." I declared happily before he could ask me anything.

I heard Kagura chuckle. "I guess you can take it from here."

"...Kagura?" Lord Sesshomaru said quietly.

"See ya." By the gust of wind that followed, I could tell she had flown off and left. I looked up to see Lord Sesshomaru staring down at me; eyes filled with questions.

"Rin is sorry. Yesterday I just wasn't ready, I needed time to think. But now Rin is good." I let go of his leg. "Lord Sesshomaru, can you take me somewhere?"

He raised an eyebrow.

* * *

We flew over to a village.

My old village. The one I used to live in with my parents, and then later as a mute. People were recognizing me; I could see it on their faces. They made expressions of shock and disdain. Lord Sesshomaru must have recognized the place, since he kept sending everyone around us defensive death glares.

Ah, he was scaring them. I put a hand on his leg reassuringly and stepped out in front of him. "Hello!" I grinned and waved cheerfully. "Rin missed you all and came to visit! I will not be long!"

This hurts.

My smiles are often fake. I chatter in order to drown out the silence that scares me, and I smile in order ignore the pain in my heart. In hopes that if I keep smiling on the outside, I can make myself feel that way for real.

But this...this is the first time it's been this difficult to keep my mask on.

Lord Sesshomaru followed me silently as I walked up to a certain crumbled hut and walked in. There was almost nothing inside. The walls were empty save a bunch of bugs that crawled all over them. To the corner on the right, a dusty old sword inside a leather sheath had been laid to rest.

"No one is perfect." I declared as I walked up to the raggedy sword and touched its sheath. "Rin should've remembered that; I mean, I had blood on my hands once too."

My Lord's eyes widened a little bit; I giggled to cover up my apprehension. I don't blame him though. No one would've suspected that sweet little Rin had ever killed someone.

"When the bandits were attacking my parents, I was hiding. I was scared for my life, so I had my daddy's sword right here with me." I started explaining. "After they killed my parents, they all left except for one. One bandit stayed behind to take whatever belongings we had. He...he came really close to my hiding place."

I gulped and let go of the sword. This was not an easy memory for me to recall. I grabbed my Lord's hand, and luckily, my fear began to fade away.

"And then he opened the door to the closet I was hiding in...and I couldn't take it anymore. Part of it was out of fear of what he'd do to me now that he'd found me; part of it was anger at what he and his friends had done to me. I didn't know how to use a sword, but I took it out and I just...went crazy with it." I sighed. "I must have stabbed him like a thousand times. Once, I stabbed him in the eyes, and an eyeball popped out. After that I got freaked out, looked at the blood on my hands, and I just...I just ran."

"...Rin." I heard my Lord say my name.

"And then when I returned, the other kids were kinda shocked and scared about what happened and didn't know how to react, I guess. So...they did what people do when they're scared of something because they don't understand it. They alienated me." I closed my eyes. The urge to spill my heart out overwhelmed me.

I am not going to be here much longer. Lord Sesshomaru deserves to know who I really am.

"Every time I would speak, it always resulted in them mocking me. Every single time. So, I really didn't like to talk because it would always result in something bad. And I talked less and less...until one day, I stopped talking completely. I didn't want to talk and have them make fun of me. And I got used to it...I stayed silent for so long, that after a while, I forgot how to speak again."

Then I turned to him with a smile. "That is, until I met you. I could talk without getting made fun of. It was okay for me to talk now. So I tried my best to remember how to talk, and eventually, I remembered. And so I kept talking, and now I never shut up."

I giggled. "Although Master Jaken did criticize me, he never mocked me the way the kids did. It was very different. From him, it was more of...casual comments. He was honest, but not intentionally mean."

My Lord's eyes hardened at the mention of his late servant. Of course, it'd be foolish of me to think that Master Jaken's death did not affect Lord Sesshomaru as much as it hurt me. He was just less expressive about it.

The next place we visited was my parents' graves. I had made many flower arrangements during my stay with Kagura, and I laid them out carefully.

"Rin wasn't always so cheerful and talkative." I said to no one in particular, but Lord Sesshomaru seemed to be listening. "I dont know when I started doing this, but that's my way of coping. I cope with feelings of loneliness, sadness, fear and worry by acting really happy and pretending that nothing's wrong. I guess I was kind of hoping that if I acted that way on the outside, then it would in turn, make me feel the same way on the inside." I sighed. "But it doesn't work that way, does it, daddy?"

I knelt down in front of my father's grave. "I talk a lot to cover up my fear of silence. I smile to cover up sadness. I pretend to be alright so I can somehow make myself believe that what I seem like on the outside is really how I am on the inside. But daddy, I don't think I need to do that anymore."

Smiling, I put one more flower on my father's grave.

Though the hole they left in my heart will never close, with the newfound place in my heart Lord Sesshomaru and Master Jaken have, I can move on from the pain of that empty space and find happiness.

I turned around, looked my Lord in the yes, and smiled a genuine smile. "Lord Sesshomaru? Mom and Dad say thank you."

* * *

I had one more person I wanted to see. Moriko.

Lord Sesshomaru seemed a bit reluctant about this, but he flew me there anyway. Nervously, I knocked on her door.

"Rin...?" She exclaimed when she came out. "What are you doing here? And-with him?"

Her eyes drifted to Lord Sesshomaru; I can understand. I embraced her in a tight hug, trying to calm her down.

"Rin? What the-?"

"Shh." I toned my voice down to a whisper. "He's not ready to say it, but he is sorry. That isn't who he is now. And I am sorry. Sorry for doubting you, it must have hurt so much."

"Sorry?!" Moriko pushed me away. "Are you serious?! You think a little 'sorry' can make up for something like _killing my father?!_"

"I-" I was about to say something, but then I noticed the person standing behind her.

No.

Not him. He's one of them.

Why now? Why now, when I was about to try to justify my own behavior towards the same situation? If this his how Moriko felt when she first saw Lord Sesshomaru...I can't believe she didn't just run away.

Can I do the same?

"Hello?" She waved a hand in front of my face. "Rin? Are you in there?"

I gulped. "Moriko, who is that?"

"Oh, him?" Her expression brightened. "He's my foster father. He took me in after my father was killed. Why, do you know each other?"

The man in question turned to see me. Once he recognized me, he dropped the books he'd been holding. "I-it's you..."

He knows me. I recognizes me. I remember him-I remember listening to him make my mom and dad scream, and then silence their screams with his blade.

"Huh?" Moriko seemed puzzled beyond belief. "What's going on?"

I stood closer to Lord Sesshomaru, biting my lip. I can do this. I can't keep running away because sooner or later, I'll come to a dead end. Then where would I go? "Moriko...he-he was one of the bandits who killed my parents."

"...What?" Moriko whispered, taking a step backwards. "...You..."

"Do you understand now, why it was so hard for me to believe you?" I said to her gently. "I was still wrong, but please, try to understand."

Just then, Lord Sesshomaru growled quietly and cracked his knuckles like he does when he's getting ready to tear someone apart with his claws. I stepped in front of him.

He looked at me in confusion, but nonetheless, put his claw back down. But the look in his eyes made it clear that if he saw something he didn't like, he would kill the man.

Carefully and slowly, I approached the man.

"Child..." he breathed out. "What is your name?"

"Rin." I answered. "And yours?"

"Kiyoshi." He sighed. "I remember you. I remember what I did to you."

"So...so it's true?" Moriko muttered.

"Yes. Yes, it's true. I was a bandit in the past." He cleared his throat. "Please, at least allow me to explain myself. Child, I did you so wrong."

I nodded. He was hanging his head, scrunching up his face.

"Back then, I had lost everything. My wife, my kids, my home...they'd all been destroyed in a large fire. I had no money. No way to survive. The life of a bandit offered me food, clothing, and anything I might need to stay alive." He sighed. "At that point, I was desperate, so I joined a group of bandits. I didn't plan to stay with them for long. Just until I saved enough money to get back up on my feet."

Kiyoshi sat down, rubbing his temples. "We survived the only way we could; by stealing. But obviously the owners of the place are not going to give you anything for free, and they're not going to let you steal from them without a fight. So...many times, we ended up having to kill. It was then that I knew I couldn't do this for too long. Your family was our last...raid."

I swallowed. I felt tense.

"Your parents were the type who fought us. They wouldn't let us steal from them, and so...we killed them. Soon after, we learned that they had a child...and the child had been orphaned." He looked at me. "I guess that was you, huh? Anyway, by then, I couldn't take it anymore. I was sick of this life-having to kill to survive, all the guilt weighing down on me day to day...I had saved up enough money to go to a new village and get a respectable job there. And so, I left the life of a bandit, came here, settled down, and took in Moriko."

Everyone was silent until Moriko broke down crying. "That...that is no excuse. I'm sorry, Rin."

"...I know." Kiyoshi hung his head. "I know. It may have been so that I could survive, but nothing can change what I've done. You must have hurt so much. Please, child. Do with me what you want."

My eyes widened. What was he saying?

"...Rin, it's okay. He deserves it." said Moriko. "Go ahead, I won't hold it against you. You have every right in the world to avenge your parents."

"I see you have a demon friend with you." Kiyoshi spoke. "Please, go on ahead. If you would like, have him kill me. I owe you this much."

Lord Sesshomaru looked at me questioningly; I met his eyes, and shook my head no. Then to everyone's shock, I walked up to Kiyoshi and embraced him in a tight hug.

"It is okay. Rin is okay. You are forgiven." I let go of him and smiled. "Rin does not want you dead. Rin wants you to be happy. Keep on living your life the best you can."

Kiyoshi stared at me with his mouth wide open. "...Child...!"

"Rin, are you crazy?!" Moriko was saying. "Why would you do that? Don't you feel bad about your pa-"

I cut her off by giving her a big hug. Then I stepped back and looked her in the eyes. "Moriko. If you can't forgive the people who did you wrong, then you will become exactly like them, and continue the cycle."

"Rin...?"

"This is a cycle, Moriko." I replied. "It could start out with one mistake. The person takes revenge, not knowing that they had just done the same thing they were upset at the other person for doing. And now, the other person's family is upset. They want revenge and they're holding a grudge, so they get their revenge by using the same methods their enemy used. But now, the person they killed has allies, and now those allies want revenge. And they, too, become exactly like their enemies. It keeps on going like that, and it's a cycle."

Moriko stopped crying. "I-"

"Unless someone decides to not be like everyone else and decides to forgive-and not commit the same sins the other person did by taking revenge-the cycle will never end. I am ending the cycle. It's not gonna go on like this." I smiled. "All I ask of you is that you do the same for Lord Sesshomaru."

Her eyes darted toward my Lord.

"Don't let things continue the way they are. It will only result in more pain for everyone. Please. Forgive Lord Sesshomaru."

To my surprise, this time, Moriko was the one who hugged me. "It's easier said than done. But I will try, Rin. I promise that I will."

In this way, I think I have stopped another retaliatory war from breaking out and destroying even more lives. I think that was the best thing I could've done with my last days alive.


	15. Rin3

The enemy looks like a ring with legs. The ring isn't empty-it's more like a circular plate. And on top of it, there was the round vital spot-fully exposed for the world to see.

"Rin, we should move the battle to the coast-" Seiko started, but was cut off by Miroku.

"Wait a minute. Rin, zoom in on the top of the enemy." The monk said. I did as I was told. Everyone could see the round "vital spot" with its layers of armor.

"The vital spot is exposed?!" Koga exclaimed. "What does that mean? Is it a fake?"

"Nope." Dung Beetle reassured. "That's your target."

Kagome seemed apprehensive. "So we can just smash that and win?"

"But look at that shape..." Miroku noted. "Something is weird. Rin, I think you should move back and watch for a while."

I nodded and did so. The opponent immediately charged at Zearth and then took flight. We couldn't see it.

"Is it gone...?" asked Kagome, before she noticed something. "Oh my God, look up above!"

The enemy had brought itself down on us, using its legs and the plate on top to hold Zearth in place. It had caught us. We were trapped.

"Squeeze out and get away!" Inuyasha shouted.

I tried with all my might to move, but Zearth couldn't move while the enemy had its hold on us. "I can't..." I whimpered. "I can't get out."

The air was thick with tension. "What's it going to do to us?" asked Sango.

As if to answer her question, suddenly, the ring at the top of the enemy started to move.

Koga jumped. "What's that noise?"

The circular plate detached its outer ring, and that ring began to circle downwards rapidly, pushing the legs that held us inwards. "Is-is it grinding us down?" I asked.

Hiroshi nodded. "The ring-like structure on top is rotating and moving downwards."

"No wonder!" Seiko exclaimed. "When the ring lowers, it'll push the legs inwards. If we don't do something about it soon-"

"-I know that!" I got Zearth's laser beams ready and fired-but instead of hitting the enemy, they were blocked by the circular plate on top of us and shot downwards towards the ground instead. It was no good.

"Raise the arms!" Inuyasha suggested.

"I can't. I can't move my arms."

"Then your feet!"

I kicked Zearth's foot back-and strangely, laser beams started coming out from Zearth's foot. I didn't know it could fire lasers from there. I move the leg in order to aim the lasers at the "vital spot" on top of the enemy, but I couldn't reach up that high.

Vibrations shook the cockpit; the ring was getting lower and lower. I couldn't get away. At this rate, we'd all be crushed to death.

"Hey kids, this ain't looking good." Dung Beetle commented. "Looks like we're about to be crushed. I can teleport the rest of you guys outside, but not Rin. Of course...in that case, it would only change where you all spend your last moments alive. Cause either way, this planet'll blow."

Suddenly, we heard a loud crash above us. The screen showed that something had attacked our enemy's vital spot.

"What's going on? Jesus, don't they know that's useless?" said Dung Beetle.

I zoomed in on the enemy's vital spot and saw a familiar two-headed dragon.

"Ah-Un!" I shrieked. "Ah-Un is trying to help! But..." I swallowed nervously. "There's no way he can live! Ah-Un, get out of there!"

"Ask the other tribes for assisstance." Takeo spoke up suddenly.

"Didn't you learn anything from last time?" Dung Beetle scoffed, but Takeo glared at him.

"If Zearth loses, there won't even _be _anyone else. It's a die-or-die situation then. And since their vital spot is exposed like that, don't you think maybe we might have a chance?"

We all looked at the screen. Ah-Un was still hopelessly attacking the vital area.

"Alright, Dung Beetle." said Hiroshi. "Please teleport us outside."

Dung Beetle scoffed. "Idiots." And they were gone.

Not soon after they left, an idea struck me. "There is something." Everyone turned to me hopefully. "I don't know if it'll work or not, but there night be a way."

I got the idea while thinking about my conversation with Lady Kagura. Her heart was outside her body.

Zearth could detach its body parts; Naraku had done so, Kohaku did too.

"I'm gonna detach our cockpit from the main body."

Immediately after my announcement, Dung Beetle returned alone. "And how is that gonna help?" He asked dryly.

A large explosion outside distracted me; hundreds of youkai had arrived. They were not all bird demons, but they could all fly. In the midst of chaos, I couldn't see what was going on. I couldn't see Ah-Un.

Under the enemy's vital spot, several lights lit up. Then it shot laser beams at the youkai around it.

When the smoke cleared, not a single one of them were left.

Not even Ah-Un.

"Ah-Un..." I trembled, wanting to cry. This isn't fair. This isn't right. I felt a surge of anger rush through me like never before.

"We're in a bad enough spot as it is!" I screamed at Dung Beetle. "I'll do it! It'll give us a short window to victory! Trust Rin!"

There was silence. And then, we heard cracking sounds followed by a feeling of motion like we were flying through the air.

"We did it..." Kagome breathed out.

Yes, we had. Our cockpit was now detached from the main body, outside of Zearth, floating around in mid-air. I looked down; we were up so high. Everything looked like little ants from here.

Not only that, I could see that we were directly above the enemy.

I narrowed my eyes and fired laser beams from the cockpit itself; I didn't even know we could do that, but it popped to my mind. We moved to a safe distance away from the enemy afterwards. "Did it work?"

"No." Dung Beetle answered as the smoke cleared. The vital area was only grazed; it had not been destroyed. "You came up a bit short."

Yes, all I had to do was destroy it just a tiny bit more.

The only problem was that from here, I couldn't reach it.

Suddenly we heard another large explosion.

"Takeo?!" Sango exclaimed. Sure enough, the bird demon was firing attack after attack at the enemy's vital spot, trying to finish what I'd started.

It was working, but very slowly. Not fast enough.

Then the enemy's lights started blinking again. It was getting ready to fire. Takeo seemed like he was ready to die; they both attacked at the same time.

The smoke cleared again. The vital spot was completely gone; but so was Takeo.

It seemed the combined energy of their attacks made some sort of weird explosion which killed both parties.

"...A suicide attack." Inuyasha breathed out.

Dung Beetle landed our cockpit safely on the ground. "A narrow victory."

We exited the cockpit. For the very first time, we got to see it from the outside and see what it really looked like.

It looked _exactly _liked the vital spots of our enemies. My jaw dropped.

"Dung Beetle?" I turned my head nervously. "Just who are we fighting?"

He paused before answering. "I think you've got a good idea of who it is."

"Well, I thought...maybe..." I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. "But...it was too unbelievable."

* * *

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

He wouldn't cry.

Sesshomaru never cried.

Even as his heart-the heart that wasn't supposed to exist-had just been shattered to pieces in the most brutal way he could imagine. Even as he stared at the place where Jaken, Rin, and Ah-Un used to play together while he watched. Even as its current emptiness seemed to slap him in the face with cold reality.

He needed an errand to be run. He had called for his servant.

But Jaken never came to obey.

He arrived at his campsite, and he usually was greeted.

But Rin never ran to him hugging his leg.

When he got ready to leave, he had, out of habit, reached for a reign to signal a dragon to move.

But Ah-Un never followed him.

He was alone. Completely alone now.

And although he was clenching his fists so tight his claws dug into his palms and left deep, gaping, bleeding wounds, he would not cry.

Sesshomaru never cried.


	16. Koga

"They announced a name for the monster!" Ginta's exclaim echoed throughout the cave. "Zearth."

Zearth is growing more and more famous by the day; those that had seen it were talking, and gossip travels fast. Plus, those three bird demons-even though there was only two now-seemingly had a lot of connections with influential demons and humans alike; I don't know how, but it was like they controlled what the people did or didn't know.

I, too, was an influential person, so I discussed things with them and spread the information to the rest of the wolf tribes. Some things, they had to know; other things, we weren't sure how they'd react to. We carefully monitored the public's knowledge of what was going on, and if needed, we lied.

Announcing names got everyone talking, and my wolves were no exception. Well, what's left of us, anyway.

"What kind of stupid name is that?" Hakkaku replied. "I could've come up with something much better!"

I scoffed. "The hell you could."

"Hey! what's that supposed to mean, Koga?"

"Shut up you guys! They announced names for the other monsters that were fighting with it, too!" said Ginta excitedly. "The first one, "Arachine". The second one is "Bayonet". Then we got "Cancer", "Drum", "Enigma", and "Fig". And the last one that just appeared, they named it "Gonta"."

"Who's coming up with these stupid names? I swear, the last one sounds like yours!" Hakkaku scratched his head.

"I think it's a really good name." Ginta protested.

Little did they know, I was standing behind them, cracking my knuckles. "Stop talking about that!" I ordered as I slapped both of them upside the heads. "Change of topic!"

"OW!" Hakkaku rubbed his head. "Hey, speaking of which, didn't that monster come over here once and almost-"

"I said, change of topic!" Once again, I had to hit them. I did not want to be reminded of the time I had to kill that Hakudoshi kid before he got a chance to kill Ginta, Hakkaku and the rest of us.

After the Rin kid died, I made a decision. I, Koga, was not going to self-destruct, blame others, or waste my time crying. It's not because I want to die, of course not. But in a situation like this I want to live the rest of my life to the fullest.

And them, too. I want them to carry on happy lives like this had never happened. That's why I don't want them to talk about this subject. They don't know that I'm one of Zearth's pilots and that I don't have much time left.

We talked about the battle's location, and the fight usually starts wherever the pilot is. So if we don't want to cause massive destruction to those around us, the pilot needed to go somewhere secluded and remote. But we don't know when the battle will begin-and they are the last minutes of my life. So I will not live in fear. I wanna live normally; I'll wait until the battle starts to move to a safe location.

"So Koga, what are we doing today?" Hakkaku asked me.

I shrugged, my mind not on their conversation. "Same thing we do every day, I guess."

There's one problem though; after Rin's fight, we finally got to see the cockpit we rode in from the outside and see what it looked like. It was shaped exactly the same way as the "vital spots" of the enemies we'd been crushing.

So what the hell is inside those enemy spheres?

Or maybe...who?

We never really talked about it. I guess a lot of people were afraid of the truth, and it wasn't like Dung Beetle was gonna give us any good answers anyway.

I wonder if we really are saving the world.

* * *

"Oh, Kagome!" I happily ran to her, Ginta and Hakkaku huffing and puffing behind me, and handed her a little bouquet of flowers I'd made. "Missed me?"

"Oh! Koga." She chuckled nervously. "Um, thank you for these."

As predicted, dog-breath was soon standing in front of my face, growling. "Don't you ever give up?! Especially now, when we have more important things to worry about!"

Ginta and Hakkaku murmured to themselves, not having a clue what he was talking about. I almost smacked myself; he could've tried to be a little more secretive-but if I did, it would give away that something was going on.

Instead, I just turned around and puffed out my chest proudly. "Kagome deserves only the best, no matter what the circumstances!"

Truth is, I actually got over my inital crush on her a long time ago. At first, I was just excited to find a girl that could see Shikon shards and I was interested in that kind of power. Then as we got to know each other better, I developed a little bit of a crush that soon faded away since we actually didn't know each other as well as we could have.

It was never love. Never the kind of unbreakable bond that she and Inuyasha have.

It's just that it kind of became habit for me, I guess. And for them, too. It felt weird if I didn't act like that, since that's the way we usually bond...in our strange way. I know they love each other and that Kagome loves Inuyasha, not me, and I'm fine. Kagome knows that my flirting is only a part of my personality since I love toying with people, and though he acts jealous, dog-breath knows, too, that I don't really like Kagome in that way and that I'm doing this to ruffle his feathers. And it seems he has fun with it too, since he always goes along with it, leading to another "fight".

Weird, isn't it? We are the strangest sort of allies. But it's fun as hell.

"Think of me when you look at those flowers!" I winked before running off again.

* * *

"So hey, Koga, Naraku's dead." Ginta spoke up later that night after we had set up camp. "I didn't expect that."

I snorted. "Old news. Your point?"

"Well, we weren't the ones who killed him. So does that mean we didn't avenge our comrades?"

My eyes narrowed as Naraku's death replayed in my mind. His insane laughter, the blinking of one of Zearth's lights, Kagura shoving him, and him falling to his death.

Kagura. Dammit, now I regret listening to her conversation with the human kid. Those words won't leave me alone.

"Killing Naraku wouldn't have avenged our comrades anyway." I finally answered, causing Ginta and Hakkaku's eyes to widen so much they looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

"What? Are you crazy, Koga?" they exclaimed in unison. "He was the one who killed them! And what about that Kagura?!"

"Does killing Naraku or Kagura bring our comrades back from the dead?" I asked lazily. They shook their heads no. "There's your answer. Naraku was someone who needed to be killed because that was the only way to stop the massive amounts of damage he was doing."

"But someone like Kagura...I'm not saying you need to like her. Hate her if you want. But know that if we killed her, we'd only be doing to her friends the same thing she did to us. Our comrades would still be dead, and now she's dead, and now there's even more hatred among everyone. Violence only begets more violence. Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity, understand? Plus, how many people have we done the same thing to anyway? We've killed a good amount of people; if they all came to avenge their friends that we slaughtered and killed us, what the hell would that do for either party?"

I paused and sniffed the air. "Speak of the devil. Come out, wind witch."

My followers gulped as Kagura came down from the tree branch she was hiding in and covered the lower half of her face, smirking. "Ho. So it was you eavesdropping on us that day after all."

"KAGURA!" Ginta and Hakkaku hugged each other in fear and stood there whimpering pathetically.

"Don't get the wrong idea." I put my nose up in the air haughtily. "Just because I've realized this doesn't mean I'm your friend. I still find you disgusting, but I'm not keen on a war since now I know that no one wins in a battle. Both sides lose."

"Indeed." Kagura chuckled. "No matter who survives, the only thing that's been done is damage. No one can win in a situation that brought only pain and suffering for everyone." She folded her fan and tapped her chin with it. "Although, I didn't expect for you to understand so quickly."

I scoffed. "If you can feel bad about something you've done, anything is possible."

"But that's where you are wrong, Koga." I turned my head sharply to glare at her. "I don't."

"What are you saying?" I snarled. "So, even though you know the same thing I know, you can't even say you're sorry or anything? So all of that I heard from you when you were talking to the human kid was a lie?"

"No, I just do not lie." Kagura shrugged. "I'm not going to say I'm feeling emotions that I'm not. I can't tell you that I apologize or that I feel sorry about it because...I don't. And..."

"And what?"

"And the thing is, ever since I got wiser, I always knew it was wrong, what I did. I do wish that I never did it. I know I should feel bad or sorry or whatever, and sometimes I find myself wishing I would. But...I don't." She sighed. "I can't make myself feel emotions. I don't know why I'm not feeling them, but I'm not gonna stand here and lie to you by saying that I feel them."

"Hmph." My previous anger subsided. I looked away, not knowing what to think.

"But do know, Koga, that although I'm not sorry for it, I take full responsibility for my mistake." With that she was gone, flying in the sky on her feather.

The next day, it came.


	17. Koga2

I studied my opponent as closely as I could. "Hey...isn't that the same one that Jun fought?"

"No...it's just a bit different." Miroku answered. I don't know how he could tell.

I shrugged. "Alright, I'm ready to move to the coast. Give me my directions, Seiko."

"Actually..." She muttered. "I still haven't heard back from Hiroshi. I guess with Takeo gone, it's taking longer than usual."

"Huh?" I blinked. Well, that was unfortunate, but it made sense. I returned my attention to the enemy. "It's moving...away from us."

"Is it changing location for us or something?" asked Miroku.

"...I guess I'll just have to follow it."

Zearth followed the spider-shaped robot that walked on four legs all the way out to sea. Had it done this for us? Or does it have advantages in water? Was it a trap?

"Oh!" Seiko exclaimed. "Help is here."

Ever since Rin won her battle due to last-minute outside help, Seiko and them decided it would be better to have volunteers around just in case. Those that were willing to die in the process, just to help out with whatever little things we may need in order to win. Heroes in their own right...

Suddenly, the enemy robot detracted its two forearms and stood up on two legs just like Zearth. It started walking around in circles in the water, looking like it was doing some sort of dance. And then it began to spin rapidly with its arms out.

I couldn't get closer to it without getting harmed, since spinning this fast made it so its arms worked as blades. It reminded me of the time I got trapped in Kagura's tornado.

I tried to step back, but I couldn't run away. The enemy's spinning produced winds that were so strong it knocked Zearth over on its back. And then it stopped spinning and stood hovering over us.

How ironic is it that I ended up having to fight the one that seems to use Kagura's fighting method?

"Sure fights different from the other one." The witch herself commented.

Just then the enemy raised its arm like it was preparing to strike. I got ready for it.

"Wait, don't stand up!" said Kagura.

It was too late; Zearth was already on its feet. As soon as it was, the enemy twirled two of its legs around so fast when it made contact with Zearth, it pummeled through its armor like a jackhammer. I was knocked back down on my back.

"Dammit, you shouldn't stand up, I'm familiar with how that thing fights. It's using wind!" Kagura told me. "Keep your balance low."

"But how the hell can I fight lying down?!" I had fought with Kagura before, so I was sure I knew at least little ways around it. I stood up anyway, and when the enemy attacked me, I made Zearth bend over and crawl on all fours.

This robot could move in numerous ways, detach and re-attach its body parts, and did not necessarily have to be human-shaped all the time. The next time the enemy came at me, I punched it with an arm I was using as a leg.

I knocked it over; but now, it was standing on its _tail_. That was a bad move for it. It made it very easy for me to knock it off balance and make it fall on its back.

I pierced its chest and pulled out the round "vital area" that all robots had, and needed to be destroyed in order to win.

But just then, something hit me. I felt like I'd been stabbed, but I didn't let go of the sphere.

"What the hell? We're under attack?!" I shouted. I made the screen zoom in on whatever it was that attacked me.

It was not a demon. In fact, I'm not sure what it was. It was a flying metal object with wings.

"What the hell is _that?_" I shouted. "Has anyone seen anything like that before?!"

They all shook their heads no, except for one person; Kagome.

"That's a fighter jet." She explained. "But...those are from my time; they won't be invented for hundreds of years! How did one of those get in the Feudal era?"

I gulped. "Dung Beetle. Where are we?"

"On Earth." He answered plainly. I glared at him; he was keeping something from me. Then I realized I still held the enemy's vital spot it my hand. Carefully, I poked a hole in it.

"What-what are you doing?" asked Kagome.

I wasn't destroying it; not only could seeing what's inside it answer my question as to where the hell we were right now, we'd all been dying to know something for the past few days. Those spheres that we have to crush, that look exactly like our cockpit-what is inside them?

I gulped as I carefully pulled off just enough so that we could see what was inside it without destroying it. When I finished, I was staring into the eyes of a girl that looked exactly like Kagome, surrounded by a circular formation of chairs occupied by people who looked like us.

"Dung Beetle." I called in a grave tone. "Who are we fighting?"

"You're fighting against Earth." He answered, resulting in more confused faces. "The terminal point of a diverging branch in space." he elaborated. "In other words, a parallel Earth in another dimension."

Nobody spoke for a while.

"What does that mean?" asked Inuyasha. "We're fighting against different versions of ourselves? Why-"

"To weed out future possibilities of the universe." Dung Beetle stated. "Kind of like pruning the shrubs."

Sango visibly paled. "What does that mean?"

"The universe, including the Earth, branches out into infinite time-space possiblities that exist simultaneously in different dimensions. The closer the divergence, the more alike they are, and the more distant, the more different they are." He continued. "If you lose, your universe and its place in time-space will disappear. It will no longer exist. And if your opponent loses, their universe is gone. Kind of like weeding out the weaker ones in a species that is overpopulating."

Seiko was panting, breathing heavily. "...I can't believe it..."

"What choice do we have but to believe it?" replied Hiroshi. "But the problem is...Dung Beetle, exactly how many people have we killed?"

"Well, I'll exclude Jun's battle since that didn't have any effect on your universe. He was fighting for his own world. So, then, about...60 billion people."

We couldn't speak.

"For each battle you win, that's about ten billion people that die." He continued. "Of course, you have the casualties on your side to think about as well, so...60 billion and a few thousand, I guess."

And then in clicked. I knew where we were. "So...this is..."

"Your opponent's Earth. Sometimes, we go over to their universe to fight. Sometimes, they come to ours."

I surveyed the scenery below me. "Why is it so similar?"

"If you wanna preserve a variety, you gotta have the places with the least differences crush each other first." said Dung Beetle.

Kikyo let out a breath, and spoke for the first time in a long while. "...over 60 billion..."

"Oh another thing." said Dung Beetle. "Those vital areas of the enemies? Those are actually their crew's cockpit, so Zearth's vital spot is its cockpit as well. But the destruction of the cockpit itself isn't the condition of the victory. In order to win, what you actually have to do is kill the current pilot of the acting robot who's required to be inside the cockpit. That's how you win."

I stared into my opponent's eyes-the enemy robot's current pilot. The Kagome look-a-like-no, an alternate universe version of Kagome.

And around her...other versions of ourselves.

Their Kagome was shaking.

I...

I have to kill her?


	18. Koga3

I have to kill their Kagome?

"All these people's lives..." I whispered as something became clear to me. "I can see them. I can see where their lives are."

I looked outside; maybe only the current pilot could see this, but this was incredible. It was like staring at the night sky, filled with countless stars...it was beautiful. Their Earth-the rest of their Earth had become dark, and the people in it were represented by lights...like stars. A dark Earth, with its surface lit up by billions of lights...of lives.

"There are so many..."

"Koga." Seiko called, interrupting my daze. The view became normal again. The world no longer looked like a starry sky, but like it always did. And below us, I could see the faces of the people of this dimension, looking at Zearth in fear of their lives.

"I...I can do this." I tried to reassure myself. I bit my lip, and looked over to the Kagome inside our cockpit-_our _Kagome. Then I thought of Ginta. Of Hakkaku.

I will do this. In order to save this Kagome-the Kagome we knew-I was willing to kill theirs. To save the remainder of our tribe, to save the only friends I have left, somehow, I was willing to kill the ten billion people on their Earth.

For them, I will do it. I can be a despicable, selfish villain. I am disgusting. I'd rather save my own life and people, in exchange for billions of other lives. But...I guess that's how everyone is.

You know, it's much clearer to me now, how Kagura was able to kill my comrades. She was thinking the same way I'm thinking right now. She was in the position I am in right now, and later when it's her turn, she'll be in it again-and I won't be able to blame her because I did the exact same thing.

"You know, I get it now." I looked Kagura in the eye. "Why and how you did what you did. And how you feel. Because honestly, I don't feel sorry about what I'm about to do either. I take responsibility for it, and maybe I should feel sorry...but I don't, and I can't, because all I'm thinking about is saving my friends. And I take pride in that, and them."

She raised her eyebrow at me and I snorted, looking down. "I can't hate you anymore...not after this. I guess I'm not that different from you."

"Shippo, come here." I heard Kagome say. The fox whimpered and did as told. "Don't close your eyes this time like you usually do. We all have ten billion people to kill. Even you."

Here I go.

Though the others were looking, I had to close my eyes to be able to do this. I closed Zearth's hand, effectively crushing and killing their cockpit and the people inside it. Soon, the ten billion that inhabited their world would follow.

* * *

"Are we back?" I asked, finally opening my eyes.

"This is your Earth." Dung Beetle confirmed.

I lifted my head up, and then my eyes widened. "The lights..." I whispered. "I see the lights..." Just like the enemy's world had lit up with star-like lights representing the souls of the living, our world was doing the same to me now.

"I can tell which ones they are." I continued. "That one is me, that one's Ginta...and that's Hakkaku."

"I can't do it..." I overheard the fox kid named Shippo say. "I don't think I can fight."

I snarled. "You'd better."

* * *

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

The wolves' den was restless. Koga had left without warning, and he had not returned in two days.

"You know what I've noticed?" said Ginta. "The thing called Zearth has lights on its face. When it first appeared, there were fifteeen. Two days ago, when it reappeared again, another light went out. There's only eight lights still on."

Hakkaku remained silent. He, too, had noticed that, but didn't know what to think of it, or why it brought a feeling of dread to his chest.

"Ginta..." He spoke. "Do you think Koga's ever coming back?"

There was silence before Ginta answered. He looked to the sky outside as if he was searching for something, perhaps...a spirit. Then he blinked and smiled as if he had found what he was looking for and was satisfied.

"Koga would never leave us."


	19. Shippo

I had no time to recollect myself or think or anything. My battle began one day after Koga's. This time, we went over to the enemy's Earth, to fight a red-and-white "robot".

And someone is riding in that thing, too. Our enemies are people too. They're in the exact same position we're in. I can't force myself to fight them.

"Shippo." I heard Kagome call me. "If you can't fight...no matter what you choose to do, I won't hold it against you, okay?"

"Th-thanks, Kagome." I gulped and sniffled. "Dung Beetle? The fight hasn't started yet...you can teleport the pilot outside the cockpit if it's not during the fight, right?"

He paused. "Well, yeah, but...why?"

I motioned him to move closer to me, and whispered my plan to him. He didn't take it very well.

"What?! Are you crazy?" He exclaimed. "I mean, are you really that stupid?"

I looked at him with my best puppy-dog eyes. They always worked on Kagome...

"Ugh, fine!" He exclaimed. "That's insane, I ain't never done that before."

I extended Zearth's arm, getting it ready for what I was about to do. I soon felt the dizzy feeling I always get when Dung Beetle teleports us.

* * *

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

Utter confusion spread throughout the remaining pilots as Shippo's form disappeared right in front of their eyes.

"Shippo?!" shouted Inuyasha. "Where'd he go?"

Dung Beetle turned to face the screen that showed them what was outside. "Out there."

Everyone turned their heads to see Shippo outside Zearth, standing still on its outstretched arm, miles and miles above the ground. The small fox was biting his lip, sweating, but otherwise, he kept a cool composure, a look of determination on his face.

"What is he doing out there?" exclaimed Kagome, her protective nature not liking Shippo's current position. "Bring him back in here, Dung Beetle!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that. He's the pilot this time around." answered the floating mouse-like creature. "The little fool."

* * *

**(Shippo P.O.V.)**

This was a last minute decision. It...wasn't really the best idea. But no matter what happens, I just wanted the people we'd fight to know about us. That we exist. That we are here, we understand, and we are in the same situation that they're in.

I'm so high up. It took all my might not to look down and freak out, but somehow I managed to do it. Time never seemed to run so slow.

After what seemed like forever, the enemy robot moved. It, too, extended its arm and put it parallel to the ground just like Zearth had. I gulped. Whatever was gonna happen, I had asked for.

Someone evaporated-no, teleported, it looked exactly like it did when Dung Beetle teleported someone-onto the other robot's arm.

He was dressed in the weirdest kimono I've ever seen. Red on top, blue on the botton, no obi. He had long silver hair, but wore something on his head and I couldn't see if he had ears. But when he lifted his head, I saw familiar golden eyes staring into my own.

Inuyasha?

"Shippo?" He spoke. I nodded. "Their Shippo..."

"And you're...this world's Inuyasha?"

He snorted and sighed sadly. "Little runt."

"Hey!" No mistaking it. This was their Inuyasha. Their current pilot.

"Hey kid." He held out his hand like he wanted me to shake it, regardless of the fact we were way too far apart to reach each other. "We're cool, right?"

I trembled and put my hand out too, though I knew I couldn't reach his. "Stupid Inuyasha..." Before he got a chance to respond, he vanished. I guess he must have gone back inside.

"Dung Beetle." I called, still trembling. "Bring me back."

* * *

Back in Zearth's cockpit. Kagome hugged me as soon as she saw me. I don't know how Inuyasha felt about seeing this dimension's version of himself that I'd have to either kill or be killed by.

"I'll fight." I wiped my eyes. "I can fight."

All of the worlds, though different as they may be, are also alike. That means...after the fight, the remaining world must bear the responsibility for the lost one.

I think, if that's the case, the lost world needs to be _worth _the responsibility the remaining world will bear. Courtesy towards everyone, I guess. In the end, it's just something we all go through since the moment we're born. We fight to survive, and we gotta do the best at what we do. Even if means hurting someone else in the process.

Everyone's hurt others in order to survive as long as they have. That doesn't make it personal, though. You gotta accept that and respect it, which means you can't live with vengeance in your heart.

Though it doesn't mean that there are no consequences for people's actions...that's not for you to decide.


	20. Kikyo

I have been taking everything for granted. I'm such a fool. Smart enough to be a great priestess, mature enough to guard the Sikon Jewel, but too foolish to live right. Too dumb to recognize that I had been granted something most people will never dream of: a second chance at life.

It took this much for me to wake up. I had to have certain death waved in front of my face a second time for me to appreciate what was around me. The world is so much different now.

It isn't until we're about to have something taken away that we appreciate what we have and treat it the way we should.

What had I been thinking?

I had a chance to do my life over. This time, I could've made sure that I died without regrets! I should've thought about that. Instead, I chose to live on in hatred and vengeance, abusing and neglecting the life I'd been given yet again.

Just because my relationship with Inuyasha didn't work out (although it was no fault of our own), I completely rejected life and everyone around me. Even the one that loved me. And because of that, she suffered from a hole in her heart for fifty years while I slept and not once did she complain. She was always there when I needed, never pushy, never forceful, and not once did she act selfishly.

Somehow, I get the feeling Kagome probably wouldn't have needed to wait as long as I have to figure this out.

* * *

I hadn't seen Kaede in a while. After the fox died, I made sure to pay her a visit. I confided in her what was going on with me and the rest of the pilots that were still alive.

"You'll be the pilot...next time?" She had asked me. "You mean it'll be different from the other times?"

"Not too much." I replied. "Kaede, let's go take a walk. You never told me what you'd been doing the past fifty years."

Well, there was one thing I didn't tell her. I didn't tell her what happens to the person after the fight. That I'm no longer going to be here. I changed parts of the story so I wouldn't have her asking me about that.

She is no longer the little girl I used to know. I feel so distant now; it's like she's a completely different person. Well, I guess I should've expected that. It has been fifty years. Eve after spending the whole day with her, it wasn't enough. I could've done this sooner and had more time to get to know her again had I been smart enough.

* * *

When we returned from our walk, the hut was gone.

Burned down.

It was no accident.

Fortunately, the first villager who saw us was loyal to Kaede and ushered us out as quick as possible. A woman had walked in while no one was paying attention and set it on fire.

It was only a small woman, so they caught her pretty easily before she could do further damage; but the what came out of her mouth turned a lot of people against us. She kept shouting about her children and family, saying that nothing else mattered to her now and she'd do as she wanted even if it killed her.

Then she revealed that the thing called Zearth was said to be controlled by people; one of which was me, and she'd seen me walking out this hut.

Somehow, information had leaked out and spread.

The man who had helped us get out unnoticed had to go back to his home; we parted ways when we thought we were far away enough from the village.

"You all are heroes, no doubt." Kaede said from beside me. "But the enemies of the casualties."

I nodded. Dammit. How far had the information spread? Now people unrelated to this were in danger, just for being associated with the pilots. My poor sister. Maybe coming to see her was a mistake. I put her in danger.

It's not like I can blame them, though.

* * *

Dung Beetle stopped us not long after and teleported us to the cockpit of Zearth. I asked him to take Kaede with us; she didn't have a safe place to be right now. The bird demons weren't present. They were out trying to figure out which people had leaked our information.

When we arrived, I saw that Kagome's seat was already out in the center.

"What is this?" I raised an eyebrow. It's not like I wanted to fight right now. "I thought I heard the voice."

My reincarnation tilted her head. "When?"

"This morning."

"Me too."

"Wait, what?" Dung Beetle interrupted us. "You both heard the voice? It only calls one soul at a time."

Well obviously it didn't. Why would we lie about this? No one would rush their turn in a situation like the one we were in.

"Then...the only way for us to do this is for both of you to fight at once." He concluded.

Kagome's face paled. "Well, which one of us is gonna...?" She didn't say the word die.

"Lady Kikyo." The monk called me. "Didn't you say when you first boarded Zearth that you had never agreed to this?"

I nodded. I only recalled walking through a forest before I was suddenly teleported to Zearth's cockpit.

"And Dung Beetle, you said Zearth chooses one soul at a time, right?"

"Yeah. What's your point?"

"Kagome and I share a soul." I finished. I didn't need to hear any more. "She is my reincarnation from the future. We are one soul in two different bodies; it probably signed me up with her when she touched the papers. Which means..."

I heard Kagome gulp. "...We're both gonna die at the same time."


	21. Kagome

I heard Inuyasha shift in his chair behind me; I turned to see that he had turned his head so he wouldn't have to look at us. I know his reason for doing so; but there's nothing I can do or say. I don't even know how to feel.

Kikyo finally took her seat, and the chair slid out so we were side-by-side. I studied the enemy robot's face; all of our opponents so far had slits on their faces just like Zearth.

"Fourteen slots..." I counted. "Only two lights. So I guess they've won twelve battles."

"Kagome." Kikyo called me. "We need to move our location."

"Oh...it's listening to my will?"

"You got here first."

"Er...right." I gulped.

The opponent followed us as we headed out to the ocean. Once I was sure there couldn't possibly be people around me, I took a step forward and swung a punch to its face. To my surprise, I hit it.

My eyes widened. "It worked!"

Feeling much more confident, I swung Zearth's other arm and threw a punch at the enemy's chest. Then another one. And another one. Every single blow landed exactly where I wanted it; but they had yet to even attempt to hit me. It was like they were losing on purpose; they were hardly responding.

Suddenly, thousands of little wires came up from below us.

"What is that?" shouted Sango. "Tentacles?"

That's what it seemed like. We were bound and tied pretty tight; I shook Zearth in an attempt to get rid of them but to no avail. Suddenly something pointy pierced the top of our cockpit.

A couple of the wires had managed to pierce through Zearth's armor and get to us. They came for me, flying to me with the pointy, knife-like ends aimed at my head. I couldn't breathe. I'd lost. I was thinking Kikyo would have to take over for me.

Then all of a sudden, the moment it was close enough to kill me, it stopped. It completely paused a centimeter away from my forehead.

I shivered.

The wires slowly fell limp. It was as if someone had changed their mind and decided not to go through with it.

"What was that...?" Kikyo exhaled next to me, glaring at Dung Beetle. "We were losing and suddenly, it just...?"

Dung Beetle ignored her and intently stared at the moniter, as if he was waiting for something to happen. Then something that looked almost exactly like him appeared in front of us; another floating metal mouse with a tail and a face painted onto it. But this one had pointy, rabbit-like ears instead of round ones like Dung Beetle, and it was red.

"Hey punk." Dung shouted. "What the hell is going on?"

The other one hesitated. "...I'm sorry. We've had a bit of an unforseen accident on our end. I apologize."

"Are you even trying over there?!"

"Well, you _were_ losing after all so you can't really talk." he gloated. It looked like their "Dung Beetle"-or whatever that one is called-was just as stuck up as ours.

Dung beetle sighed. "That has nothing to do with this; what I mean is, what's going on with you guys that you'd just stop like this?"

"...Our pilot has run away."

We all stared at him in silence, trying to understand the situation. Why would the pilot run away?

"Escaped...abandoned battle?" I spoke up.

"Yes."

"But they can't get out of the cockpit unless you teleport them!"

"Well, obviously I teleported them." He said with a hint of a shrug in his voice.

Kikyo's face took on a worried expression. "This is bad." She announced. "If that pilot ran away, that means that if we don't find him in 48 hours and finish him off, then we both lose."

After a moment of silence, Dung Beetle spoke up again. "You got two more fights?"

"Yes."

"Well then you must have one other person left! Make him kill the guy that's on the run."

The other mouse-like creature turned his back to us. "I can't do that. I respect the pilot's wishes. So now that you're all filled in, you've got 47 hours and 8 minutes left. I hope you enjoy your remaining time on Earth."

"Wait a second!" screamed Dung Beetle, flying after the other mouse. "Do your damn job you cocky punk!"

He was ignored. "Sorry. If my team just loses like that, I'm out of a job." He replied. "Plus we've won twelve battles already. And I'm not downplaying this battle's importance or anything, but if he wants to run I have no right to stop him."

With that, he teleported out of our cockpit. Nobody was talking, but we could feel one another's anger. I could've sworn I saw Dung Beetle's drawn-on face contort into a frown as he floated around restlessly.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. "You seem upset."

"My expression never changes!" He snapped. "God I hate that little bitch!"

Just then, I felt a sharp nudge from Kikyo on my side. "We have 47 hours and 3 minutes left."

"Which means we have that long to track down the other pilot and kill him." I stated. "I got it. He only just got out, so he couldn't have gone far."

For a moment, I think some sort of understanding passed between me and Kikyo. There was a brief flash in her eyes of something I couldn't understand; she wasn't looking down on me like I feel she usually does. Maybe that wasn't the reaction she expected from me.

But right now, he's abandoned his own world as if he no longer cares if anyone there dies. By refusing to fight, he's made sure that everyone on his Earth will die along with him after 48 hours. If we can catch him and kill him, we save our world from going with them. He might have lost hope for his own people, but maybe he's willing to give our dimension a chance to live.


	22. Kikyo2

"We have a plan, right?" Kagome asked me. We were spending the most time we had ever spent together since we were the ones who bore the responsibility of everyone else in the world.

Since Kaede's "incident", we decided to stick together for our own safety. Having no place to go, Kaede stayed with us. Kagura and Sesshomaru did not agree and left; I stayed because I was gonna die anyway.

No more arguing over Inuyasha. There's no time for that.

Speaking of which, the hanyou had been awfully quiet as of late. I've never witnessed him go for so long without talking. Not only that, he purposely avoided any form of social contact and refused to eat. Either Kagome or I could've gone to comfort him, but if one of us went it would cause tension between us we definitely didn't need at this point. So although it hurt, we stayed in place.

"We will." I answered. "We just need some information on the runaway first."

Kagome groaned. "Aww, man! How are we gonna do that?"

"Dung Beetle can get into the enemy robot's cockpit." I replied. "Didn't you see him leave?"

"I wasn't paying attention to him." She shrugged and turned to glance at Inuyasha, who was sitting on a rock a few feet next to us, just staring off into space and not saying anything. I tried to shake away the feelings of resentment that overcame me.

Soon there was a brief fuzzy feeling in the atmosphere; Dung Beetle had arrived, with Seiko and Hiroshi. I'd never really been glad to see them ever since we'd met, but right now, I was thankful to them for coming in at the right time and providing distraction.

"...So, what happened?" asked Kagome. Dung Beetle ignored her; Seiko and Hiroshi glanced at each other worriedly before Seiko bit her lip and began to speak.

"We...we've lost support." She said quietly. "The rest of the people we had with us who supported us...they're not on our side anymore. A lot of them have family members and friends who were also killed during Zearth's fight...one of them being Takeo." The woman grit her teeth. "And well...they didn't want to keep lying to the public, so they leaked the information without telling us."

My mouth hung open for a moment before I regained my composure. Everyone was turning against us, it seemed.

"So you will not be able evacuate the bystanders like before?" asked Kaede.

Seiko shook her head no. "We won't be able to get help as needed either. I'm sorry."

"Fuck them. Let them go." A grouchy voice resonated throughout the area. Well, it seemed like Inuyasha was listening after all. "I can't believe they can't even tell who their allies are."

"Not everyone is against you!" Seiko protested loudly. "Come on, see us? We'll still be with you all no matter what!"

Hiroshi nodded calmly. "And it's not just us. There are still numerous people that are supporting you. It's just...that the majority wasn't. But there's still a lot of support for you out there."

I cleared my throat, trying to get attention. There were more important things we had to talk about. "So, what about the runaway pilot?"

"We saw..." Hiroshi paused and looked to the sky, trying to find the right word. "...Drawings of him. We know what he looks like, and we know he gave up the fight and ran away after he learned about some little girl's death. I think we can do this. Dung Beetle, you can go back in their cockpit before the fight starts, right?"

"Sure." Dung Beetle answered monotonously.

"It's settled then." Seiko declared, smiling triumphantly. "We got a plan."

* * *

We decided to excute the plan at the last minute to give ourselves as much time as possible. The plan was to bait him out with memories of the dead little girl until he ran into one of us and killed him. Cruel, but we had no choice.

It would start tomorrow; until then, we were supposed to enjoy our lives the best we could. Kagome decided to go back to her own country or wherever she came from to visit her family.

The future. I do think about it.

I'd be lying if I said that I never wanted to get to know my future self. Or was she? We were so different, I couldn't tell...and yet, we had the same soul. She is my reincarnation. She is my future.

Sometimes I really do wish I had gotten to know her.

"Kikyo?" I heard Inuyasha's voice call for me. I turned around to look in his eyes, and for once, for probably the first time since I'd come back to life, I approached him without my guard up, without hostility, guilt, resentment, or jealousy.

All of the feelings I had for our past seemed so irrelevant now that there was no future.

I decided to smile at him. It was not a smirk; it held no ill intent. He seemed a bit taken back by this; I don't blame him. My face felt weird for I hadn't contorted it into this shape for such a long time. "Yes?"

Did it really take all this just for me to do such a simple thing like smile? It was so easy.

Inuyasha blinked, then his eyes darted around like he was nervous. "Um, are you...uh..."

I tilted my head. "Let it go."

He seemed surprised by that as well.

"It's in the past, and it's not your fault." He needed to hear this, after all of the guilt trips we went through. "I understand."

I walked past him, leaving him a bit stunned. I'm sure he, out of all people, could decipher what I meant. And from the corner of my eye, I could see a ghost of a smile on my sister's face.


	23. Kagome2

"Breakfast everyone!" I called, making sure I sounded as cheerful as possible. I returned yesterday after we finally had a plan, wanting to at least spend some time with my family and friends before I died. Ever since I fell down the well, I had been neglecting them more and more; this was a chance to spend quality time with them without worries about the Feudal Era. For now.

Sota was the first to arrive at the table. "Woah!" His eyes widened. "You made all this by yourself, Kagome?"

"Yup!" I replied cheerfully. "I don't do this often, so let's cherish the moment, shall we?"

"Wow, Kagome." said my mother, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. "What's the occasion?"

"Who said we needed an occasion?" I lied. "We're here together, we're healthy, we're happy, and that's all the occasion we need!"

Grandpa wasted no time digging into the food. "That's my girl! Kagome's really growing up."

Sota looked at me strangely like he had caught onto something; I felt butterflies in my stomach. Thankfully, whatever was on his mind, he didn't address it. "So is Inuyasha visiting later on?"

I nearly choked on my food. Oh God, he just had to ask.

"Kagome? Are you alright?" asked mom.

I coughed and coughed and cleared my throat before answering. "Yeah mom, I'm fine. I just ate too fast."

Inuyasha didn't come after me. He didn't question my decision to visit home either. He just stood there with this unreadable expression on his face and watched me go down the well. That look gave me such a sinking feeling in my stomach.

Why couldn't he protest? Yell at me or something! Tell me to hurry up, complain about me taking too long, or something. But he didn't. He kept looking at me like that...with that look in his eyes. I had to get out of there before I lost my composure.

"Ah, Kagome." Grandpa spoke up, thankfully distracting me from my thoughts. "That Hojo boy came by yesterday. Something about a date."

"Grandpa, Kagome already has a boyfriend, remember?" said Sota. "She's dating Inuyasha."

Sota just had to go there again! For the second time, I began coughing violently and had to clear my throat until I calmed down.

"Geez, Kagome! Are you sure you're not sick?!" exclaimed my little brother.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." I sighed.

Grandpa narrowed his eyes. "You should stay home from school today."

Sota shook his head at him. "Grandpa, it's Sunday."

"I said I'm _fine_!" I shouted a little too loudly, causing everyone to stare at me. "Uh, sorry about that. I'll tell Hojo I said okay."

* * *

I bet Hojo really wasn't expecting me to actually come out. Poor boy. With or without Inuyasha, I never really liked him like that. I should've told him about that earlier, but he was just so persistant and honest I couldn't really find it in me to say it. Plus I didn't get a chance to think about it very much. Still, there was at least something I could do for him, this being my last day and all.

"Hey Kagome!" He greeted me. "So, how do you feel about a movie?"

"Actually, I have some plans of my own. How do you feel about that theme park nearby?" It was like I was desperate to spend all the money I had saved up until that point.

Hojo looked surprised. "A theme park? Wasn't that expensive?"

"Uh, not really."

"Kagome, are you sure? There's no point in rushing."

If he only knew how untrue that was. I didn't have much time left. I had to do everything I could while I could. And so, instead of coming up with an answer, I just grabbed his hand and we both ran to the park.

* * *

We went on a lot of rides and Hojo was determined to win every stuffed animal for me; he actually did well. I made sure I was overly cheerful. When I felt like my mind was wandering elsewhere, I purposely picked the most gut-wrenching, craziest rides so that I wouldn't be able to think straight.

Maybe that was a bad move because I ended up puking in the middle of the park. Hojo was nice enough to cater to me even with everyone staring at us, bless him. After I got cleaned up, we decided it was time to leave.

And what did I see as soon as we walked through the exit gates? Three familiar female heads, staring at us, gossiping. Ayumi, Yuka and Eri. How did they know we were here? How long had they been watching?

"...You guys can come out, you know." I sighed. "We know you're there."

Hojo looked around in confusion; the poor boy hadn't noticed. Well, now that they were running towards us, giggling, he had to notice them.

"So this is what you've been doing the whole time?" Yuka whispered. "And we all thought you were sick! How'd you get your mom to lie for you?"

I groaned. "It's not like that, you guys."

The three of them started running their mouths about God knows what; they were talking so fast I couldn't even make out what they were saying. Somewhere along the way, Hojo started to shift uncomfortably, looking down at his feet.

"...Well...I'll see you later, Kagome." He said quietly and turned his back. He probably felt unwanted.

"Wait, Hojo!" I called, not about to leave any of my friends in that manner. Thankfully, he turned back around to acknowledge me and my friends stopped chatting. "Um, thank you, Hojo. For always being there for me, and always being my friend. It means a lot to me."

He blushed and scratched his head. "Oh, it's nothing, Kagome! I-uh-well, I'll see you in school!"

If he got the wrong idea...well, given these circumstances, I'll let him. I can't bring myself to burst his bubble since I already know what's gonna happen later on. It's the least I can do.

"So, what happened to your other boyfriend, Kagome?" Eri started gossiping again. "Are you two-timing him?"

Not too long ago, I would've been content to live exactly like them. Not too long ago, my life was no different from theirs. When I look at them, I see myself as I was before. I sometimes wonder if I really would've been better off as I was then...if I hadn't been caught up in everything I'm caught up in now.

I never came up with a real answer. I knew that now that I had a taste of the other side of the well, especially since I'd met Inuyasha, I would never be completely happy living the way I did before. At the same time...life would have been much easier, and I probably wouldn't be counting down the hours until my death. But what's the point in thinking about that now?

"You guys, you wanna go shopping?" I cut off their chatter, pulling them into a group hug. "My treat. Anything you want."

"Oh...my...God, Kagome, are you serious?!" Eri exclaimed.

I smiled and nodded. "Dead serious."

"You're the best, Kagome!"

* * *

During the shopping trip, I also bought presents for my family. I was flat broke now. I wrote letters to my family and for everyone else I knew, sort of as an...explanation or a good-bye for them to read after I was gone. God, why was it so hard?

But there was no turning back now. I was already on the other side of the well. I had to get ready to load Zearth.

I saw something shiny directly in front of me. Light glinting off of metal; and someone was behind it. An arrow, perhaps?

Suddenly it flew towards me and hit me right in the chest. As I looked down and saw my blood, I received confirmation.

That was definitely an arrow.


	24. Kikyo3

Three hours.

Kagome was three hours late.

Inuyasha was pacing back and forth, unable to calm down. "Dammit, where is she?!" He kept saying. "I knew I should've gone with her!"

I bit my lip. There was a part of the plan that wouldn't be able to move forward without her.

"Change of plans." Dung Beetle announced as he teleported into the cockpit. "We're not going through with the plot we had before. They signed up a new pilot for this round, and we're starting now."

"Wait a minute, what about Kagome?" Inuyasha shouted.

Dung Beetle paused in mid-air. "Kagome...has been murdered."

There was a chilling silence in the air. I shook my head. He was kidding, right? This was Dung Beetle after all, maybe he was just playing a cruel joke on us. Weren't we supposed to die at the same time?

"Deaths unrelated to Zearth don't apply to the rules." sighed Dung Beetle. "Zearth would have taken the soul from both of you at the same time, but that's not how she died. So Kikyo's gonna have to fight by herself."

The demon slayer, Sango, let out a choking sound and dropped her head on Miroku's shoulder, trying to silence her own cries. The monk dropped his head hopelessly and held onto her, patting her while keeping his eyes closed. Kaede shut her eyes and started to pray.

"You're kidding me!" Inuyasha swiped at Dung Beetle at his claws. "How do you know?! Did you see a body?"

"Yes, I did. If you wanna know, Seiko and Hiroshi are taking care of it right now."

Inuyasha's jaw dropped; then he started clawing at the walls. "Goddammit! Let me out!"

"Can't. Fight's starting."

"Fuck the fight!" He screamed. "Why did you wait until now to tell me?!"

I sighed. My poor boy. "Inuyasha, he probably just found out himself. Try to calm down."

It was no use. He kept shouting and hitting the walls but only managed to hurt himself. Nothing he did was any good. He took out Tetsusaiga and attacked; everything he tried was useless. But he didn't stop.

Meanwhile, the enemy robot was descending towards us. It was human shaped like Zearth and had nothing really special about it except that this one carried a needle. Was it to be used to skewer the cockpit?

Inuyasha's breathing became frantic; he was getting desperate. He couldn't do this the whole time; I needed to concentrate to be able to win. Was that...a choked sob I just heard? "Goddammit...let me out..."

"After the fight." answered Dung Beetle, only serving to make him more angry.

Suddenly, we all saw Sesshomaru approach his brother. I grew a bit nervous as to what he was about to do.

"Sesshomaru?" The hanyou's eyes darted to his sibling, then to his sword. "That-Tenseiga, give me that!"

His daiyokai brother just side-stepped him when he lunged at him, trying to take his sword. Then he held him by the neck and hit him upside the head, knocking him out. He proceeded to drop Inuyasha on the ground and silently return to his seat like nothing had happened.

"...I already told you I can't take you outside." Dung Beetle droned, looking at Inuyasha.

Silently, I thanked the heavens that he'd silenced Inuyasha without hurting him...much. I didn't get to pray for long though, because soon we heard a sizzling sound above us like something was dissolving. It was coming from above us.

"A solvent?" Sango questioned, finally taking her head off of the monk's shoulder.

"I like their style." Dung Beetle noted. "That way, there's no need to get the needle directly into the cockpit."

I guess they weren't using the tentacles anymore. I shook my head and regained focus; soon I managed to break from its grasp and jump away from the needle. I tried to shoot lasers at it, but for some reason, they weren't working this time. They managed to dissolve a hole through Zearth's head.

I feel like I'm dying again.

That was too close for comfort.

I narrowed my eyes and punched at it, but it was already gone. One turn back told me that it was behind me. I swung another punch; it just dodged like it was teasing me or something. How annoying. I grabbed it by the arm to throw it; but it took advantage of my open side by sticking another needle into Zearth with its other arm.

"Ugh..." I groaned, my eyes widening. It was like I was being burned alive. I could feel the needles-one on Zearth's head, one on its side. The opponent used my distraction to back-flip out of my grasp and land on its feet.

This one is very fast. It just disappeared again; I prepared to strike where it reappeared; unfortunately, I was too late in noticing that it reappeared directly above us. Luckily, I managed do dodge it when it tried to stick another needle inside Zearth. As if we weren't already melting.

"Those needles..." I murmured to myself. "...It has two left."

If it had no more of those needles, it wouldn't be able to attack again. All I had to do was make sure that those two did not hit Zearth's cockpit.

The first one, I took with my arm. Oh, god. This must be what it's like to have someone stab you in the arm with a sword that's on fire. It attacked again-I took the second needle with the other arm.

"Kikyo?" Kaede called. "Are you okay?"

I couldn't answer her; I was too busy trying to handle the pain. My body was covered it sweat, my breathing rapid, my voice seemingly gone. Now it couldn't attack anymore.

"Now I can-" I paused mid-sentence.

Please don't tell me I just saw what I think I saw.

Yes, I did. It just re-grew a needle from its body.

"Shit." I swore. "It can regenerate the needles that fast? What do I do now?!"

"Say." Kaede spoke up. "What happens if Zearth loses?"

She just had to ask. No one answered her. We didn't need to. I wasn't going to allow that to happen.

I swung at it again, then gasped as I felt it stick a needle in Zearth's leg. Then I froze in pain as I felt another one pierce Zearth's chest, where the cockpit was.

We saw the needle as its tip forced open the top of our cockpit. Fortunately it stopped mid-way and did not go all the way through.

"What is it doing?" I asked.

"Looks like the needle wasn't long enough to go through all the way." said Miroku. "It's probably waiting to re-grow its needles now."

I had an idea. I simply walked near it and waited. Waited until the needles were almost fully grown. Then, when the needles were ready, I was close enough to pull them out and attack the enemy with its own weapons.

I smirked-they stumbled back a good amount. This time, I pulled out the needles that were stuck in Zearth, bit my tongue to try to ignore the pain, and attacked them with the same needles that had hurt us. I didn't stick it in once and leave it there like they did; I attacked multiple times with each needle. I stabbed them ruthlessly over and over again until the needle was dull and I needed a new one; and then I pulled out another one from Zearth's body and did the same thing.

Finally, I knocked them over completely. They did not seem to have the energy to even try to get up. I stuck Zearth's claw-like hand inside the enemy's chest and pulled out their cockpit.

Whoever that was I was about to kill, I didn't want to see them.

It was then that Seiko and Hiroshi teleported into the cockpit, carrying Kagome's body.

"Kagome!" Sango cried, running to her friend's body. Miroku followed her; Inuyasha was still knocked out. I sighed and quickly crushed the opponent's cockpit, killing everyone inside it. I won.

"...Well, there's a problem now." said Dung Beetle. "At first, we didn't know that Zearth signed up both of them for sharing the same soul. So we counted them as seperate pilots for seperate battles. But...after this, there will be six battles left, but only five pilots. We're short one pilot. So unless we can find and contract another pilot soon, we're as good as dead."

Seiko stepped forward. "I'll do it. I'm ready."

"...Alright, I'll have you sign up later."

At this, her brother Hiroshi turned his back to her like he was angry about something. I guess he was upset at her decision because he was going to lose his only sister; but I couldn't be mad at her because we needed it.

I walked up to my unconscious hanyou and touched his head. Somehow, I think it's better this way. I don't think he would've been able to watch me and Kagome die together. I smiled one last smile and took Kagome's form from Hiroshi and sat her down next to me in her seat, making her sit up as straight as a dead person could.

Taking her hands in mine, I bowed my head in a kind of prayer. "We could've been the closest form of sisters; it's a shame it took something like this for us to be able to see that." Another sigh escaped my lips.

"Time to go." Dung Beetle announced before he teleported everyone else out of the cockpit.

"I'm sorry. I should've known better." I apologized as I sat back down in my seat, getting ready for the final moment.

Me and my future reincarnation, dying together. How ironic. I kept her hand in mine and never let go.

* * *

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

Sota kicked the well as hard as he could. He couldn't believe this. What did Kagome mean, she decided to stay in the Feudal Era and never come back? What is that?

"There's gotta be an explanation behind this." His mother whispered. Sota hoped so. The three of them had been standing around the well all day after they had read her letter. They tried and tried to get the well to work for them, but like always, it was no good.

Suddenly, they heard rustling sounds frown down the well, like somebody was in there. Could it be?

"Kagome!" Sota smiled. "I knew you'd-"

But the figure that jumped out of the well wasn't Kagome.

"...Inuyasha?" the boy blinked. "What happened to Kagome?"

The hanyou stayed silent; biting his lip and avoiding eye contact. This scared Sota. This wasn't normal.

"Is it true?!" He damanded, grabbing Inuyasha's clothes. "Kagome's staying with you guys? She's leaving us for good?!"

Inuyasha's voice did not come out naturally. He spoke in a whisper, like he was scared to say what he was about to say. "...Yes. She told me to say good bye."

"Why?!" cried Sota, shaking Inuyasha. "Why would she do that? She said she'd never leave us the way daddy did! Kagome you liar!"

No one told him otherwise.


	25. Inuyasha

"Come on, talk to me, will you?" Seiko was nagging Hiroshi again. He didn't respond; he wouldn't even look at her. "Big bro? Big bro? Listen, I'm sorry. I'm not sorry for my decision but I'm sorry I didn't break it to you in an easier way. I should've...told you first or something."

Hiroshi closed his eyes. "Leave me alone."

They've been doing this for two days now. Worst part of it was that I had to sit here and listen to it! This "sticking together for safety" thing really grated my nerves at times.

Ever since I woke up, Miroku and Sango wouldn't let me out of their sight. It's not like any of the people or demons that know about us will be able to get me anyway. I mean, I can understand Kaede, but I can take defend myself. And how come Sesshomaru and Kagura don't have anyone bugging them? How come they can go off doing whatever they want?

Kaede was huddled up next to me. Obviously I wasn't the only one suffering.

"Inuyasha." She spoke. "Let me take your place."

I scoffed. "What are you yapping about now, hag?"

"I want you to live on. Me, I've lived long enough. My days are numbered anyway." Her voice had a scratchy tone to it, like she was struggling just to breathe. "But you're young. You should live out the rest of your life; I'm sure that's what Kagome and Sister Kikyo would've wanted."

Her words shook me; it was like she'd lost the will to keep living. She didn't want to try anymore. But then, I remembered the fire that had destroyed her hut and the woman who had started it.

"No. I can't do that." I replied. "No matter who dies, the effect is still the same. Kikyo and Kagome are meaningless to the strangers who don't know them or us. But you still have people to live for."

The old bat slowly turned her head away from me.

"Listen, Kaede. Even if it wasn't you-if I don't do this now, it means that someone else will have to die and then their friends and family will have to mourn and the cycle starts all over again. I'd rather do this myself than put the burden on someone else."

Kaede whipped her head around to look at me again, then turned her gaze to the sky. "You are an admirable person."

"Well, we've all learned a lot." I shrugged. "I just wish I had thought more about this before now."

"People don't like to think about their own deaths." Kaede said. "But everyone needs to. It's not like if this hadn't happened, we wouldn't have died. All of us would've died regardless; just later on. And you never know if that's tomorrow or years later."

I nodded. Up until now, we'd only been thinking about our current mission. Day to day survival. Animals tend to do that as well; they're thinking about how to get food. Sometimes, we get too caught up thinking about how to get by that we forget about everything else.

Except children. During childhood, however long that may be for you, you have guardians to take care of you. You don't need to think about survival. And that's when we get a chance to consider things that others might call stupid; things that have nothing to do with working society. Adults would tell you to think like you're in the "real world", but that's just an excuse they use to deny that they've lost the ability to think.

Children's thoughts are actually very important.

* * *

The Goshinboku. The sacred tree that started it all, where I slept for fifty years. It almost hurts to look at it. But this is where I feel most at home right now, so this is where I'll stay.

I finally managed to persuade everyone to let me go off by myself just once. It's my choice to do whatever I want with my last moments alive. I do wish I could've thought of something better than sitting here by a tree, though.

My nose twitched. I could smell my half-brother in the air. Surprisingly, I don't care.

"What, did you come to see me through to death or something?" I sneered.

Like the ice block that he is, he just silently walked up to me, halted, and stared at me. I didn't bother to look at him.

"Or did you come here to call me weak for 'sulking over humans'?" I laughed bitterly at the last part. "Don't try to say you didn't do the same thing over that little girl, Sesshomaru. Or is she not a human?"

He narrowed his eyes at me; that had pissed him off. I scoffed. "Just get away from me. I don't wanna deal with you."

Just then Sesshomaru threw something at me. Startled, I prepared to yell at him, but stopped when I recognized the iterm.

Tetsusaiga.

My eyes widened. "How-? When did you-?"

"You dropped it in the cockpit." He answered boredly before turning around and walking away.

Now I felt like shit. Complete shit. "You know, you can't just walk in here and try to be a brother now!" I shouted at his back. "It's too late for that."

Dammit. Why'd I have to be the one in the wrong? Why couldn't he have just given me reason to keep hating him so I wouldn't feel so damn guilty for being bitter?

* * *

I asked to be buried near the Goshinboku tree. It is my turn now. After trying in vain to find Kagome's killer, my turn finally came to me. All I knew was that they had used an arrow and run away after killing her, leaving her body. I couldn't even avenge her.

The cockpit is so empty. Ten of us have died. Only five are left. Eleven, if you count Jun. It's hard to look at all these empty chairs and not visualize them occupied by the people who they belonged to. And when I do that, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach and feel the need to vomit.

So empty.

The battle after Kagome and Kikyo's was fought by Seiko. Zearth called for her soon after she signed herself up. Hiroshi refused to talk to her until the very last minute, and now, she was gone, and he was almost completely withdrawn. He came along, watching us, doing everything he could to help. I guess he found himself unable to distance himself from us now after everything he'd seen. Same with Kaede, who now requested that she stay with us until the end.

Sesshomaru returned Tetsusaiga to me. He had it right there in his hand, holding it by the sheath...and yet, he didn't try to do anything with it. He just gave it right back. I don't know what to make of that. I guess that's the closest thing to an apology I'd ever get from him. Or a farewell or whatever.

Speaking of him, I wonder-when his turn comes, would he care enough about the rest of the world to try to save them, knowing that he was doomed to die no matter what happened?

He'd better.


	26. Sango

When Miroku and I first got engaged, we were busy searching for Naraku and didn't have the means to seal the engagement properly. But since all this had happened, we thought about what we wanted to do and had a yunio ceremony. Not much of a ceremony, since most of our family memberes were gone. It was only Mushin and Kaede that had attended.

Today, my face is painted white. A white cloth and veil cover my head, and a white shiromaku covers my body. My hair is done up elaborately in bunkin-takashimada, adorned with beautiful kanzashi ornaments, tortoise-sell combs and accessories. And on top of that I will wear a white tsuno-kakushi hood during the ceremony. I don't know if it matters though, since I don't have much time left to carry out with 'patience and serenity'.

I am nervous; a good kind of nervous. For good luck, I am carrying a hakoseko purse-style sack and a small encased kaiken sword. A fan is worn in my obi. It will gradually open to signify a happy future.

Hopefully the little bit of future I have, I will be able to carry out happily.

Today, I become a married woman.

Mushin had volunteered to conduct the ceremony in a shrine. Next to me, Miroku smiled, and I blushed. Please, please have enough sense to not grope me today!

He wore a black montsuki kimono with his family crest in white on the front and back of the kimono, tucked into his pleated hakama pants. A matching haori overcoat was draped over the entire outfit. On his feet were pure white sandals, matching the fan he carried. Several times, I had seen him in this attire in my dreams. Never once did my heart beat fast then as it was today, when he was right in front of me.

Raising a harai-gushi branch over our heads, Mushin called for the gods to bless us. Then were both presented with three flat cups stacked on top of each other for the san-san-kudo. Miroku took the smallest cup from the top, poured some sake into it, and took three sips.

My turn. I am not much for alcohol. I poured sake and took three sips from that cup. Trying not to wince, I set the cup down and then we repeated the process with the second and third cups. After we were done, everyone present drank a cup of sake to do the "signifying the union of two families" thing, even though Mushin was the only person who could be considered a family member for Miroku and I had no living relatives.

In my mind's eye, I envisioned Kohaku present, and my father gulping down his share of sake. I wonder if Miroku was envisioning anyone.

For the reception, I draped an uchikake over myself. Mushin tore up the food. I served fish with the tail and head forced up from the plate forming a circle, the symbol of eternity. Clams were served with both shells together, the two halves symbolizing our union. Lobster were served because of the deep red color of luck. For dessert I made komochi manju.

"What a glorious reception indeed." Miroku remarked, keeping a content, easygoing grin on his face. His first words to me as my husband. Oh God, my husband! My _husband._

Gazing at our reception with a grand total of two guests, I knew some people would have disagreed. Usually the ceremony was held with the closest family members, and the reception had many guests and attendees. Usually, when couples looked forward to the rest of their lives together, they were thinking of decades. We had a few weeks at the maximum. But then again, it wasn't like all newlywed couples actually fulfilled their dreams. Some die soon after. Some don't even make it through the ceremony. The only difference is that they didn't see it coming.

People might laugh at us for this, but I was proud. This small gathering with people who actually knew us, supported us, and cared was worth more than any big party filled with shallow, superficial people giving fake blessings.

"Yes." I smiled at Miroku, nodding. "It's beautiful."

We looked into each other's eyes, and he understood my intent in the reply I gave him and I understood his motive behind his statement. I think he really was thinking along the same lines and came to the same conclusion as me.

Afterwards, I changed into a colorful unmarried woman's kimono. This is the last time I'll get to wear a kimono like this. I felt butterflies in my stomach; we were alone! We were finally here as a married couple, all by ourselves. My heart started pounding again, and my face felt a little heated. What to do? What to do? What to say? What is appropriate? I'd like for this to be special and romantic. This golden moment only comes once!

"Miroku." I manged to say, clearing my throat. "I-"

"No need to be nervous, Sango." He interrupted. "I am well knowledgeable about what happens on wedding nights."

He put his arm around me, and a familiar warm sensation of a palm covered me where I knew it would. I resisted the urge to groan. You know, as smart as he is, he never seems to realize that this isn't a particularly good move.

"Stupid!" I snapped, raising my arm to push his hand away from me and smack him on the head at the same time. "Not like that."

How unromantic. At least he managed to retrain himself during the actual wedding. He covered his cheek where I had hit him, and made that hilarious but cute embarrassed expression he makes, whining softly. I couldn't help but giggle.

"How many times are we gonna do this?" I asked, shaking my head at him.

He smiled. "Until the end of time."

God, he's so corny! Couldn't he have said something less cliche?

But I had to admit, he was a great lover. I guess massaging all that flesh taught him some useful skills.

* * *

Zearth's big weakness is being unable to spot the enemy if they're not in visual range.

My enemy is shaped like a giant oval with legs. On its face, it has fifteen slits, seven lights remaining lit. This meant they had won a good amount of battles, but to them, we should have been even more intimidating. Thousands of weird flying things-probably exclusive to this dimension-were floating next to the giant toy. I guess they came prepared with back-up.

Dammit. This makes it even harder for me. Those are innocent people willing to sacrifice their own lives to save this Earth and the other people in it. Can I do this?

"What you're trying to accomplish is gonna kill them anyway." Dung Beetle said to me, as if he read my expression. "What does one or two of them matter?"

I bit my lip as Kirara nuzzled me to try to make me feel better. "But...I don't want them to die painfully."

"At the very least, you have to kill the enemy pilot." he replied. "Are you saying you can't even do that?"

Suddenly, the people floating in a circle around the enemy pulled out some strange sort of weapons from which they fired thick, heavy and opaque smoke. Gas? What looked like little puff balls of clouds soon expanded throughout the area. Larger and larger they grew, until they completely blocked everything from our sight. I couldn't see. And from here, noses are useless.

"You can see the peoples' souls, right? They light up to you where the person is when you're the pilot." said Miroku.

"Yes, but..." I gulped. "There's so many souls in that area, I can't tell which is which."

At first when Koga mentioned he could "see lives", I was confused. I hadn't expected for the souls to be so beautiful. The animals have souls. Even the plants have souls, even though their lights are smaller. I guess that's why some plants can grow in the most unexpected places. My only choice now, short of killing all of them, was to randomly attack and until I got the right one.

I hate myself right now. I really do.


	27. Miroku

I buried Sango in the demon slayers' old village, next to Kohaku's grave. The scent of incense filled my nostrils as I muttered prayers over the spot where she had been buried. This would be much easier if I was not doing this for my newlywed wife. My wife. To my surprise, though my eyes did water from time to time, not a single teardrop actually escaped. I guess it helped that I had known this would happen.

Kirara mewed in sorrow next to me. I opened my eyes and shook a finger at her.

"Now now, we cannot dwell here any longer. Remember what Sango said?"

I refuse to do anything but smile. I refuse to come off as anything less than cheerful. The past is in the past, and though it hurts, we cannot undo it. The more time one spends in the past, the more they waste of their present, and in turn, they corrupt the future. Sango will always be my wife.

I am not the only man in mourning. There are so many others suffering even more. Therefore, the remainder of my time will be spent not for the past, but for the future. Those that are already gone cannot be revived; but those that are still here, those that have been left behind-they still have a future.

These people will still be here when I am gone. These people are the ones who now control the fate of the world. These people are the ones who, after we all leave, will be inhabiting the world we fought to save. They need to know not to make the same mistakes that we did. They need to move on so that our sacrifice was not in vain.

The fruit of our deaths is their lives and to ensure changes in humanity.

"Come, Kirara." She transformed into her larger state and carried me on her back, knowing what I was about to do. I was going to use my last moments for the living relatives and friends of the deceased pilots.

* * *

Before I went to see anyone else, I had to pay a visit to the one person alive that had affected me most. Master Mushin. When I first told him about me and Sango getting married, he was ecstatic. He saw that my wind tunnel was gone and thought I was about to settle down and start a family that did not have any sons with the same curse.

Now he knew he was mistaken.

The wind tunnel was gone, but I was still going to die. There would be no starting of families. He would not see grandkids. His daughter-in-law was dead, and I was going to follow her soon.

"Why are you worrying about me, Master Mushin?" I asked, making sure that I looked happy. "I have lived to accomplish my goal and remove the curse from my family. I have made many true friends, and I have lived to be happily married."

"...Miroku."

"I am dying as a hero, Master Mushin." I continued. "So there is nothing to feel sorrow over. The person that needs sorrow is not me. Babies die. Children die every second of the day, without getting a chance to live life. And unlike me, they have no warning beforehand. So...instead of being symphathetic for me, please think of the millions of people, children, and babies that do not get special deaths."

We paid a visit to my father's grave, made offerings and said prayers. I have never felt so proud. Not only was the curse gone, I have managed to marry the most beautiful woman in the world despite my flirting and now, I go out like a hero. Whatever sins and misdeeds I have committed, I think I can forget about now and live up to my title as a monk. What greater honor is there for a priest than to sacrifice himself for the good of the world?

I stood up from my kneeling position and felt something pierce my back. I looked down at my chest; there was an arrowhead poking out from my robes, drenched in my blood.

* * *

**(Normal P.O.V.)**

"Miroku's missing?!" screeched Dung Beetle after Hiroshi told him the news. "What the hell do we do now? The fight starts in like, one hour!"

"I will go." Kaede spoke up. "I will fight."

Sesshomaru, Kagura, Hiroshi and Dung Beetle all turned to the old miko. She had put her hand on one of the sheets of paper Dung beetle kept in a stack in the corner, signing herself up to be a pilot.

"What are you standing there for?" she said. "Go look for Miroku!"

And so they teleported to the place they thought he was most likely to visit before his death; his old foster father, Mushin's house. He was sitting huddled in a ball in a dark corner, drinking large amounts of sake. To interrogate him, Kagura shook the old man. He did not answer. She shook him three more times and when that didn't work, she took the bottle of sake he held in his hand and poured it over his head. That did the trick.

When he awoke, his eyes widened as he recognized these people and the floating mouse as they fit the descriptions from Miroku's story perfectly. The old man sat silent for a minute, then put his head in his hands and wept. He was so hysterical they had to hit him until he would answer their question about where Miroku had went. The reply that he gave was unsettling.

"So, what happened to the guy who shot him?" Hiroshi had asked.

Mushin continued to weep. "I killed him. I made a deal with him to not tell anyone, and then when his back was turned, I took his arrows and stabbed him with them. I...I have killed a man!"

Kagura bit her lip. "Think that's the same person who killed Kagome?"

"He said he was on a mission." Mushin said through muffled sobs. "He was with a group of people trying to stop the killers...the killers using the giant monster."

"Why didn't we just tell everyone the truth?" asked Hiroshi.

Dung Beetle scoffed. "Because if they had known, everyone in the world would have wanted to get their hands on Zearth!"

From above, there was a familiar sound of something metal moving above the ground. Kaede's fight had begun. Meanwhile, Mushin continued to drink himself stupid.

"Dammit, I can't even do this anymore." exclaimed Dung Beetle. "If the dimension pruning goes far enough, there's still a possibility it'll circle back around! So however long it takes the next Earth to win changes the possibility of the war happening again. I heard though, the more wins a place has, the less probability it has of getting chosen again. But who knows? It could be a year, ten years, ten thousand years-it could still happen again."

"Dammit, Miroku..." cried Mushin. "Miroku!"


	28. Kagura

Kaede fought in Miroku's place and sacrificed her life. The old man, Mushin, was found dead in his home the next day. We guessed he drank until his old body couldn't take it anymore after the shock of learning what was going on, losing Miroku, and becoming a killer. Now it was only me, Sesshomaru, Hiroshi, Dung Beetle and Kirara left.

Before we left him, the monk told us about what Miroku was doing before he was killed. Or, at least, planned on doing.

God. I don't know what came over me. Whose idea was this? Was it mine? It probably wasn't Sesshomaru's. But now, we were on a journey to finish what Miroku had started with Kirara tagging along. Stupid monk. According to Mushin, he had said things like "appreciating whatever you have" and "not wasting time dwelling on the past that you can spend to improve the future". Damn that stupid monk.

Dung Beetle, to my surprise, offered to teleport us to the places we needed to go; but we decided to travel by foot. Knowing we didn't have much time left made us want to hold on to even the smallest bits of life, if only for just a bit longer. It's funny how I never noticed how beautiful the trees could be. Small details like the sound of the wind whistling in my ears and the pretty little bluish-silver tint Sesshomaru's hair takes under a little bit of shadow are so much clearer to me now.

Noticing a yellowish-white flower on the ground, I halted and then bent down to pluck it and gaze at it while twirling it in between my fingers. Sesshomaru looked at me questioningly.

"You know, I think I understand now why Rin spent so much time on these things." I said softly.

Sesshomaru silently turned his head and Kirara ran to my side and mewed; I let her eat the flower from my hand. If only I could read that damn dog's mind. But in a way, I like his silence. It's comforting. It's more like peace and stability than anything; I guess that's the same reason I unconsciously stuck to quiet people like Kanna and Kohaku while I was living with Naraku. My life is chaotic; sometimes it's inevitable because I'm such a rash person. I don't think twice about doing things some people would consider risky. So I guess I need a sense of security and being grounded to level me.

Then again, nobody can be all uptight all the time, it would drive you insane. It would make you numb; like you're dead or something. Monotony needs to be broken if you wanna live life. I think that is why Kanna and Kohaku tolerated me. And, right now, maybe Sesshomaru.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a familiar run-down palace. I squinted, tapping my chin with my fan. What was it about that palace that was calling me?

"I'm going over there." I declared, and made my way towards the building.

* * *

Now I remember.

This is where I was born.

I used to roam these hallways endlessly, trying to figure out a way to escape Naraku. These old, rotting skeletons used to keep me company at night when I had no one to talk to. The floor still creaks with every step I take. Spider webs are draped all across the walls, the eight-legged monsters keeping their prey prisoner until they decided to absorb them...I mean eat them.

The last line of thought made me feel sick. It just had to be spiders. I watched a single spider drift towards its dinner, and I kept envisioning myself in the bug's place and Naraku's face on the spider.

Using the sharp edge of my fan, I cut one of the webs off the walls. It may not have done anything, but I couldn't stand it. It was like nature itself was mocking me! Why spiders?! Holding my breath, I bit my lip as I ripped apart web after web after web.

Dammit. Now my lip was bleeding from the force of my fang. Ah, well.

In front of me, there was a trap-door like opening on the ground. I remember-this is where Naraku used to hide during his "weak" nights to rearrange his body. I knelt down and my hand drifted towards its handle, but I couldn't bring myself to open it. I couldn't even touch it. I kept on envisioning tentacles shooting out of it, grabbing me and dragging me down into hell.

I withdrew my hand and sighed. Damn you Naraku, for being able to make me feel like this even from beyond the grave.

Maybe we didn't have to end up this way. Maybe it was true-if I hadn't been so openly rebellious, he would never have had to control me the way he did. When I think back to it sometimes, I think maybe Naraku had no other choice. I was trying to get him killed, after all. If not for that, would he have done things the same way? Was Naraku actually just someone who was trying to save his own life? If I wasn't a threat to his survival...

There were times I would just stand to the side and watch Naraku as he stared at people through Kanna's mirror. He'd just sit there, thinking, looking longingly at things, being all bitter...looking like a wounded puppy...for a minute, anyway. What was on his mind? Why the hell was he like this? Why was he so angry? What was he missing, and why? Why did these plans of his mean so much to him?

After one of his plans would fail, he'd sit there and I'd see a look in his eyes similar to the one Kohaku always had. Except Naraku would push it away and get working again...he was strong-willed, and much more ambitious than Kohaku was, I suppose.

It drove me insane at times that I didn't even know the slightest thing about my so-called "father". I do not know my own history or background. I don't know where I came from. I don't know myself. I knew we weren't a normal "family" unit, but I sometimes couldn't help but wonder if I had "relatives". Did that make Onigumo my grandfather of sorts? Oh my God, this is confusing.

I am not happy.

I've dreamed of this for so long, but now that I have it, I'm not happy. I feel more...hollow than anything. When I think of Naraku's death, all I feel is regret. This isn't relieving. This is sad. It's tragic that he kept on making these mistakes, ruined his own life, was too blind to see what he was doing, and wasted his only chance at life. It could have been different if only he had chosen to appreciate what he had. He was actually pretty well off, you know. But that's what happens when you choose to get absorbed in self-pity and loathing instead of counting your blessings.

So it's true. Happiness never comes from sadness. Peace never comes from violence. A bad tree does not bear good fruit.

"May all of you rest in peace." I muttered. "Wherever you are now, may you finally find happiness this time."

Hakudoshi had asked me if I was developing sisterly feelings before he boarded Zearth; maybe I was. I kept replaying that one moment when Kanna died in my mind and in struck me that he was the only relative I had left. And that we were both gonna die, and didn't have much time left. That was when it dawned on me that after everything's said and done...he's my brother. He's played a role in my life, whether we like it or not, and I couldn't just leave him alone after all that.

Hakudoshi was extremely young. Not only that, he was spoiled. Stupid brat. He died like a coward, trying to run away from his fate. And Kanna...it doesn't feel the same without her here. I'd gotten so used to having her with me that I never imagined what it'd be like if she wasn't. I loathed them so much when they were with me. Now that they're gone, I feel incomplete. A part of me is gone and I've been numbed.

No matter how much people try to deny it, the unfamiliar-the unknown-is one of the most frightening things that exist for living beings. It is because of this fear of what may be on the other side, fear of risk, and fear of crossing the line that so many people choose not to leave seemingly horrible situations.

I stood up and headed outside; Sesshomaru, bless him, had decided to wait for me after he saw where I was.

* * *

"What were you doing in there?" He asked me that night after we stopped to rest.

I shrugged. "Used to live there. Can't a girl stop to look?"

"Nobody does such things without a reason, Kagura."

I tapped my chin with my fan out of habit, gazing out at the night sky reflected on the surface of the river before us. "You miss your brother?"

The expression on his face then was so priceless. I smirked a bit, trying not to laugh out loud. Were the swords so important that he'd dismiss his own brother's death? If I could feel like this for Naraku, who's to say he couldn't do the same for Inuyasha?

"Alright, sorry." I waved my hand dismissively. "Bad topic."

Sesshomaru scoffed. "Listening to your mouth is tiresome."

"Hey, my mouth is not that bad." I chuckled. "Especially considering who you used to travel with."

Once again, he became silent. It must have hit him really hard, to lose all of them one after another like that. Not that he'd ever admit that. I wonder what Sesshomaru does to cope with stress? Besides put up that icy barrier around his heart again and take it out on the people around him by being cold and aloof, I mean.

I sighed. "Back there...I guess I was praying for Naraku, I guess. And Kanna and Hakudoshi." Now he was raising an eyebrow at me. "I know, it's crazy. I'm fucked up. But it's like as soon as something's gone, only then do people start noticing them. As soon as they're gone, all the resentment you held for them doesn't seem to matter anymore. It's like...nobody gives a damn about you until you're dead."

He averted his gaze from me and started staring at the sky. "That's not crazy."

I guess there's my answer.


	29. Kagura2

(A/N: O.O I am speechless. This got a nomination at the IYFG for the 3rd quarter, for **Best Crossover** and **Best Characterization: Jaken**. I...seriously didn't think anyone was reading this. Wow. Um...thank you, I don't think I deserve this though, it's just them going through Bokurano's main concept. But **nased0**, thank you anyway. It's not my idea though, it's Mohiro Kitoh's idea.)

* * *

"Koga will come back!" Ginta had shouted when we visited. "Koga is definitely coming back. I know he is! He's gonna be back, as lively as ever."

Then he slumped down to his knees, banging on the ground in frustration. His friend, Hakkaku, reached down like he wanted to comfort him or something, but then withdrew as if he changed his mind. As if he gave up.

I bit my lip and clenched my fists. I didn't want to to this. My pride was screaming at me, demanding that I not do this-but I drowned it out and walked over to Ginta and Hakkaku and bowed at their feet. I felt the ground shake as they stepped back in shock.

Biting my lip, I searched my brain for words, trying to convey the emotions I felt-but I couldn't. Everything I scoffed at back then...are not such a small deal to me now. Things I brushed off casually when I was too concerned with myself to worry about much else were now very easy for me to notice.

The place is so bare. That is my fault. And now, on top of that, their leader is gone-and once again, I am the bearer of bad news. I closed my eyes and bowed my head lower in order to avoid looking at the hollowness of the cave.

Pathetic, aren't I?

I can't even make myself say a couple of words I know I damn well should.

And as quickly as I bowed down, I snapped right back up to a standing position and turned to leave, not looking at their reaction. They know what I mean by that. I heard quiet footsteps behind me as Sesshomaru followed me; I wonder what he thought of that little...display.

"Why are they...?" I heard Hakkaku say from behind us. "Are they really people that know they're gonna die soon? And they still came out of their way to talk to us..."

Maybe that in itself is enough? Nothing can ever make up for what I did to them, but this is the least I could-and very well should-give of myself. That is all that I need to know that things will work out in the end-it's all a matter of giving and receiving.

Usually, when people give, they do it because whether they want to admit it or not, they are expecting to receive something later on for it. And if they don't, they have a problem with that. But you shouldn't think of receiving, especially not from the person you gave to. Because if everyone were to keep on giving, eventually, someone will end up receiving as well. And if the cycle goes on long enough, it may one day circle around back to you.

* * *

I cannot cry.

No matter how much I try to make tears come out of my eyes, I cannot. This is a weird kind of despair; it doesn't go away. It doesn't get worse. It's like my mind is constantly frozen in one mood and I can't snap out of it. Gradually, I grow less and less responsive to pain...or anything, for that matter.

In a way, I'm sort of glad about that. If I was responsive to everything the way I normally am, I would've gone insane long ago from the amount of emotional baggage. When you tune it out like this, somehow it makes things easier to deal with. Maybe peoples' minds do this naturally as a form of survival?

I think that I can understand why Kohaku and Kanna were the way they were. I wonder, if Hakudoshi had lived long enough, how would he have changed? As strong as he was physically, when it came down to it...he was really just a kid. A little boy. That was all he was. Anyone would've run away in that situation being so young, but...I wonder what he really wanted. Did he even know himself? Or maybe, like everyone does when they're young, he thought of nothing besides having fun and fulfilling his own short-term desires.

The visit to the Goshiboku tree where Inuyasha had been buried was uneventful. Sesshomaru stood there, glaring at the tree, thinking to himself, and then requested that we leave the place as soon as possible. Sango and Kohaku were buried next to each other, and after Miroku died, Mushin had buried him here as well after killing his murderer.

Sesshomaru walked up next to me and looked down at the graves, eyebrows tightening.

"Foolish boy." He commented.

I raised an eyebrow.

"He was a fool." Sesshomaru continued. "A mortal slave, leading a futile struggle against his own fate. He should've known what was best for him and made his life easier for himself."

In his eyes, I can see something similar to...anger? Frustration? I don't know. It seems like he's speaking this way to cover something up. Maybe he did want to see Kohaku break free and it bothered him to see him end up like this. If that was the case, then how did he feel about me? My situation was very similar.

Or maybe it was his way of expressing his opinion of me.

"True freedom depends on your state of mind." I declared firmly, putting my hand on my hip. "Only when you choose to submit to their ideals are you truly a slave. And Kohaku..." I gazed down at the ground. "Kohaku, if he finally learned to let go of things and stop blaming himself, then he was free, and his struggle was not futile. I know that."

Sesshomaru made a 'hmph' sound and turned his stare to the ground. After a few moments of silence, I stretched my arms up over my head and smiled, causing him to look back up in curiosity.

I laughed. I laughed as cheerfully as I could make myself sound. "As a matter of fact, everything is to certain degree, in your mind. Even this. Isn't that what we're doing now? Ensuring that we live on! We are immortal. Not even death can get rid of us! We will continue to live, even after we die! How can you get any better than that?"

I wrapped my arms around him in an embrace and felt him stiffen.

"Kagura-"

"I like you, Sesshomaru, you know that, right? You just need to loosen up. You have freedom; use it."

He's tense, but he hasn't pushed me away or anything. I take that as a good thing.

Happiness. At first it was pretend-or more like trying to force the feeling of happiness whithin me. Now there's a small bubble of real contentment forming in my chest. I had daydreamed of this moment; never exactly like this, though. But even so, I find myself treasuring it, the knowledge that my days are numbered making it that more precious.


	30. Kagura3

Sesshomaru didn't speak to me the entire night after I gave him that little hug. He ignored me, acting like I wasn't even there. What is his problem anyway? He could've told me to stop or something if it bothered him that much. Instead, he just stands there like a statue and gets all moody afterwards. Maybe he's mad at himself for allowing it? I swear, the man makes no sense.

"So my son found someone else to look up to, huh?" The old imp in front of us mused. "That's good, I guess. I thought he'd never move on."

She set down a tray of tea in front of us as if she expected us to drink them or something. As if we'd bother with stupid things like that. I don't know why, but I reluctantly picked up a cup and sniffed it. Sesshomaru just sat next to me, staring at a wall.

The place is bare and empty. My guess is that the old imp discovered this hut by itself after the whole incident with her son and just decided to move in. Seeing as how Jaken had basically massacred his entire old "colony", she would have had nowhere else to go.

There is only a stump where her right arm is supposed to be. Images of Zearth cutting it off kept invading my mind. I find it strangely amusing that Jaken's mother has something in common with Sesshomaru.

She took a sip of her tea and pursed her lips, her bulbous eyes drifting to the ceiling. "After his father died, it was like...I don't know. He refused to grow up. He didn't want to move any further in time; he just kept trying to live backwards, if that makes sense. But of course, time isn't something you can turn back, but Jaken didn't seem to want to recognize that. He had to keep moving, he had to deal with the present-but he just wanted to go back to the days when he used to just idolize someone day and night." She sighed. "He found a way to do it, in a way. I always did wonder why he took off so suddenly."

"Did he not contact you?" I asked. "He didn't try to keep in touch with you or anything?"

She shook her head and set down her tea. "No. And Daichi just loved it-he ate it up. He used it as proof that he was right all along and wasted no time in claiming the position for himself." She chuckled. "Of course, it doesn't help that Jaken had been terrible at his job before he left."

Sesshomaru was still staring at the wall to his left, refusing to acknowledge that we were there. He had refused to look at us during the whole visit.

Jaken's mother leaned back against the wall behind her. "As depressing as this is, I'd like to thank you." She cleared her throat. "I'd have learned about this sooner or later, and it's just better to hear it from you rather than a complete stranger."

I scoffed. The last thing I'd want is to be thanked...like I had symphathy or something.

"I always felt like I'd failed Jaken as a mother. That's why he couldn't find pride in himself and was so mentally dependant on his father...because he couldn't rely on me. He didn't mature because he was never shown how." She glanced at Sesshomaru and then slowly closed her eyes. "I don't know why Jaken followed you. But...whatever you did for Jaken, thank you for being there."

Complete silence followed. Even Sesshomaru had turned his head to look at her, waiting for her to act, but she sat still. Her eyes remained shut. I inched closer to her and nudged her, but nothing happened.

It seemed Jaken's mother had passed away in front of us.

* * *

"What's wrong with you?" I asked Sesshomaru on our way out. "Are you mad at me or something? Was it that big of a deal?"

Once again, he ignored me and continued walking. He is so frustrating sometimes.

"Dammit, Sesshomaru. I'm about to die in a few. I wanted to at least pretend to be happy." I rolled my eyes.

He walked at a slower pace. "Pretend?"

Why was he asking me that? Did the thought of it being pretend bother him? That made me giddy in a weird way. Tapping my chin with fan, I started pondering about other ways to mess with him; I found it entertaining to see how he'd react.

My silence seemed to make him think; he remained at a slower pace even when he took his eyes off me and back onto the road.

"Did you know about her?" I blurted out randomly. "Jaken's mother, I mean. Or about his life beforehand."

He came to a complete stop, and I swear I saw something flash in his eyes. Then he turned to his left, walking a different path than the one we were on.

"Hey! Where are you going?" I shouted as I walked after him.

"There's something I have to do."

* * *

To my surprise, we arrived at a human village and stopped in front of a small hut. I can't even begin to explain the amount of confusion in my mind-what the hell could Sesshomaru want from a human village? Regardless, I stayed my tongue as he knocked on the wall to get the resident's attention. Holy shit, he was being polite.

The door slid open and a little human girl with short hair stepped outside. As soon as she saw us, her eyes widened in fear and stepped back.

"Wh-wh-what are you doing here?" She stuttered.

We heard footsteps behind her as a man with a top knot approached. "Moriko, who is-woah!" His eyes widened as well. The little girl, who I guessed was "Moriko", shuddered and hid behind the man's leg.

I looked at Sesshomaru and raised my eyebrow. Seriously, what the hell?

"Whatever it is you want with me, I am willing to give." The man gulped and hung his head. "I owe her at least that much."

Who he was talking about when he said "her", I could not guess. Moriko came out from behind the man, still shivering, and planted herself in front of him. The look in her eyes was one of pure hatred and determination; she glared at Sesshomaru like she wanted to tear him to pieces.

"You...you would take him away too? One wasn't enough f-for you?" By the way she trembled and stuttered, I could tell she was still scared of him.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, but not out of anger or annoyance. "That's not why I'm here."

Moriko didn't seem to buy it; she back away from Sesshomaru about two steps, pushing the man back with her. "Then what?"

Then to my utter astonishment, he knelt down to her level so he could look her in the eyes at the same height without towering over her. She jumped a bit, startled. He pursed his lips. Of course, this was hard for him-he was Sesshomaru, after all. And after what seemed like an eternity of tension passed, one word left his mouth.

"Sorry."

I blinked. Moriko and the man behind her widened their eyes, dumbfounded. The man cleared his throat in discomfort and Moriko turned her head from side to side as if she was looking for something.

"R-Rin?" she called, expecting her to be here. "Uh...Rin?"

By then Sesshomaru had quickly stood right back up. "Rin is gone."

"Gone?" exclaimed the man.

Sesshomaru looked me in the eyes, and I could tell what he wanted. I understood now. These people...they knew Rin. That little display was probably something he felt he owed because of her-or maybe he had learned something. Regardless, they had a right to know what was going on. I'd explain it to them. And hopefully they'd answer my questions.

"You're a better person than you give yourself credit for." I stated. Sesshomaru looked down, then kept walking.


	31. Sesshomaru

I thought we'd seen it all. In the Feudal Era of Japan, while fighting Naraku, along with so many others, I thought I knew all there was to war. I thought I was so strong. So invincible...but in reality, I didn't know anything. Not until I encountered...it...that day.

I can't breathe. Here I am, standing by a river, looking at my reflection, trying to clear my head-yet I can't breathe. I scowled; how pathetic. I never thought I would feel like this. My death was something that never really crossed my mind; and yet...now that it's inevitable, I am reacting like a coward. Pathetic.

Soon after my visit with Moriko, Kagura's turn came and she fought. She fought the whole way with a smile on her face. When she died, she was smiling. She was _smiling_.

Was it real?

I remember she said something about wanting to at least pretending to be happy before she died. Was it pretend?

That...incident. Was it pretend? Why do I even care? I didn't push her away, and later, I got angry at myself for it. It was weakness, and yet...I don't even know how to feel about it. It shocked me. It was because she was to die soon, that's it. But if that wasn't the situation, would I have still allowed it? Once again, I'm pathetic.

I had attempted to go to sleep. Why not? I don't have much time left. But every time I tried, I envisioned Jaken and Rin sleeping curled up next to Ah-Un like they used to do before they died. And I couldn't shut my eyes. Rin would be there, inside Zearth, next to Jaken's corpse, begging me to do something, and I couldn't. Then Jaken's form would turn into his mother, and she would lay there, bleeding and dying, repeating those words she said to me before she passed away. I can't take it.

Don't thank me, old woman! Stop thanking me. I didn't do anything. What you're saying is wrong. I could've known about all this, could've done something, but I didn't care to know. And now that I do know, the information's hitting me like a ton of bricks.

I'm trying to not care, but I'm failing. It hadn't occured to me before that Jaken and Rin had lives of their own before I came across them. I didn't know them like I thought I did.

Inuyasha had said to me that it was too late for me to walk in now and try to be a brother. I wasn't trying to be a brother, I just didn't care about Tetsusaiga anymore. Where had he gotten that idea?

I can't think of him without recalling the conversation he had with Jaken inside Zearth.

"If you knew what it was like, why did you stand there and help Sesshomaru do the same thing to me what they did to you?" he had asked. And Jaken didn't deny it. He didn't deny that I had put Inuyasha through the same thing that the people he was killing had put him through. Fantasies, he said...Jaken was acting out fantasies that Inuyasha would often have. I don't know why that bothers me so much.

Everyone else faced their deaths. Even Rin fought like I'd never imagined. They showed me sides of their personalities I never could have fathomed were there. And yet, here I am...in fear.

Maybe I was wrong about who was strong and who was weak. It looks like I was the weak one all along. It's like everything around me is going to disappear...already, it feels like I'm no longer here. Like I'm slowly fading away.

"Enjoying yourself?" I heard a voice behind me-Dung Beetle. "What, are you trying to hide or something? Shouldn't be hard at this time at night. Not making fun of you or anything, just saying."

I glanced at him, and tossed Tenseiga on the ground next to him. "That. Give it to someone who needs it after..."

"...After you're dead." He finished for me. "It's natural for you to feel like this."

I scoffed at him. Like I need his reassurance. "There will be worthless people here afterwards. Why is it that I need to do this?"

"Godammit, I thought you were ready for this! It's not like there's only idiots in this world." He shouted angrily. "What does it take to convince you? I mean, you've witnessed all of that-the people that came before you! I mean, you guys actually did a better job than we did with our world."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean, you guys...actually managed to support each other." He sighed. "When we were being initiated, the dude that came from the previous world to teach us signed up more people than he needed. Arguments broke out and some ran away. People lost their minds. But you guys...I mean, even after witnessing all that first hand, you can still say that? Kagura even thought of you high enough to love you."

I bit my lip. He...he didn't just say that.

"There's only so much I can say, but those fourteen people aren't the only people in this world capable of that-I thought you'd learned that by now. Every single person in the world is made up of the same basic things; they just choose to react differently and make different choices. I mean, isn't there even one person left that you wanna save?"

The vision of Jaken's mother passing out flashed in my head once again. Talking about her son, the one that left and never came back.

That form is so easily replaceable with another. One with silver hair.

* * *

"I thought I'd never see you again."

Mother said that sarcastically, but her words really struck me. They could've so easily been true. I nodded in acknowledgement, unable to express myself as usual. She raised an eyebrow. No doubt she was waiting for me to explain my presence. I'd bet she was expecting me to want something from her. No way that her son could come see her just to see her. Not Sesshomaru.

I've never hated myself so much before.

"What are you standing there for, Sesshomaru? Make yourself at home." she waved her hand in the air lazily. "It's not like this happens very often."

I flinched. How do I do that? Make myself at home-why is it I find myself unable to do so even in my own mother's presence? Lowering my gaze, I shifted uncomfortably.

"That is my fault." Mother stiffened. I don't think she was expecting me to say that. "I...apologize."

There. I've said all I could. Slowly, I turned my back to her to leave.

"No. I should be the one to apologize." I heard her sigh from behind me a few moments later. "I think I kind of brought that on myself...I was too formal with you."

I balled my hands up into fists by my sides. This makes me feel so damn...helpless for some reason.

"After I..." She swallowed. "...Split...from your father, I was too afraid of being weak so I became rigid. Instead of treating you like a son, I treated you more like a student or something. I'm sor-"

She didn't get to finish. Everything around me became fuzzy; I was being teleported somewhere.


	32. Sesshomaru2

When there's no place for you to fit in in this world, do you carve yourself to fit the world, or do you carve the rest of the world to fit you? I chose the latter, and I carved so many others to be whatever I wanted.

Until then, when someone decided to carve me to fit their vision instead.

I am here, back in Zearth's cockpit. There are fifteen chairs floating in front of me in a circular formation just like the first time-except, these were completely different seats. Back then, one was occupied by someone else-now, I would soon be the only one occupying a seat. And this time I know who all of those other seats belong to. I can see them in my mind's eye as I pass each one of the seats.

Mine is blue and see-through. A hard, cold chair made of clear, blue material-except with some sort of black rubber at the center of the seat. I don't know what that means.

Dung Beetle and Hiroshi were in front of me. The cat-Kirara-was perched next to them.

A bright, yellow light suddenly engulfed Dung Beetle and the floating mouse head was replaced by a pint-sized pale boy white hair.

"Surprised?" Hakudoshi-or was it still Dung Beetle-smirked at me. "Who'd you think I was?"

Hiroshi's jaw dropped. "Is that your real form?"

"Duh. Your turn."

The same light engulfed Hiroshi and the bird demon became the spitting image of what Hakudoshi used to look like, except with a black cap on his head that was probably supposed to represent his hair. They must have made some sort of arrangement. I don't know what to call each of them anymore.

"Feels strange. I haven't had both my feet touching the ground in so long." Hakudoshi-their Hakudoshi-chuckled. "Hey Hiroshi-any unfinished business you have in your world, take care of it now. You won't be able to return."

"Don't worry. I already took care of everything." The new Dung Beetle stated. "Question, Dung Beetle-"

"Hakudoshi. You're Dung Beetle now."

"Um...okay. If the pilot dies during that last battle that serves as a tutorial for the next world, what happens then?"

The pale boy shrugged. "Well, the new pilots won't die-even if the cockpit was crushed or something, they won't be killed. But you know, that would not be a very good tutorial to them."

"But..." Hiroshi/Dung Beetle gulped audibly. "Then what would happen to me and my world?"

"Obviously, you just lost, so you would just disappear along with the rest of your planet." Hakudoshi laughed.

Hiroshi just glared at him in silence, and the boy cleared his throat. "Alright, sorry. I don't know. Cause even if you lose you still have a job to do-but I don't know what would happen after your job's finished and you don't have a world to return to. But it's too late to back out of your deal now."

"I wouldn't-this...is the only way I can take responsibility for my brother and sister."

"Talking about that is useless." I spoke up at that moment. "It won't happen."

Hakudoshi chuckled. "Cocky, huh? You're the same in every dimension."

When he said that, I briefly wondered what these parallel-dimension versions of me were like. What those other versions of Inuyasha, Rin, Jaken, Kagura, and Naraku were like. This Hakudoshi's general attitude was the same as the one from our dimension, and yet, he was different from ours. This one was...wiser, would I say? He seemed older, more worn out. Then again, this one had probably seen a lot more.

"I wonder what sick being planned all this." Dung Beetle/Hiroshi spoke. I am still getting confused with their names.

Hakudoshi gazed at his feet. "I thought I'd be able to figure that out once I took the role of Dung Beetle. But...there's no real answer. It's just a natural phenomenon, I guess. Like life and death."

Once again, our surroundings became fuzzy, and then turned pitch black. It looks like it's time and we're fighting in their world. Should I be a little more emotional about it? Strange-beforehand, I was a nervous wreck. But now that the moment is actually here, it's like I've sort of come to accept it. There's no use now in worrying about the inevitable. I'd rather spend my last day in peace, and when you think like that, it makes things a little easier.

The fourteen chairs around us disappeared. Soon, brand new chairs will take their place.

"Alright, time to go find new people. This world needs eleven." Hakudoshi announced. "Don't go overboard in finding new pilots. And choose wisely if you want this world to win!"

He paused mid-lecture, glanced at all three of us-me, Kirara and Hiroshi/Dung Beetle, and nodded like he was affirming something. "...Well, my time is up. Good luck."

"Huh? Where are you going?" asked Hiroshi.

"Back to my world. My job is done." He replied nonchalantly. "Sesshomaru?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Remember me."

"...I will."

* * *

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It took a while for me to realize that; but by then, it was too late. One that had wanted nothing but power will hate it and what came with it. Invincibility, living too long...all of these things were also things I'd come to see as a curse.

Behind me, eleven people in strange clothes have appeared. Three of them, I do not recognize. The others I recall as Inuyasha, Kagome, Kikyo, Kagura, and Koga. I hold in a wince as I see Jaken and Rin. Then the last failiar face...my own.

"Welcome to the cockpit." Hiroshi greeted them. Their faces of pure shock and horror mirror our own when we first had to ride Zearth. "I'm about to tell you something very important so listen closely. This...this..."

"This is no game." I specified, cutting him off. My approach to this is far different from Jun's. "Each of you will take turns riding in this thing. Unfortunately, this operates on life energy, so you will die shortly after each battle. Nothing can bring you back to life, and you are the only people who can pilot this thing. If you choose not to fight, you will die regardless-along with the rest of the world and the people you refused to save."

I paused, giving them time to absorb the information.

"As for piloting, it'll move according to your will. I will fight the first battle, and it will be a one-time demonstration only so pay attention."

Someone behind me let out a familiar scoff. "Fool. Your words do not deceive this Sesshomaru."

He completely ignored the fact we look exactly alike. Wouldn't that at least arouse suspicion? Was I really that much of an idiot back then? I narrowed my eyes in irritation and slowly left my seat and walked over to the culprit. Before he could do or say anything, I punched him in the face, sending him plummeting to the ground.

Yes. I just punched myself in the face. Their Jaken and Rin started shouting and screaming, making everyone else hold them back.

"You-!" He wiped blood from his mouth and lunged at me. His eyes, would he have been exactly like me, would have been red by now. I hit him again and then held him to the wall by his throat, choking him so he couldn't speak.

In his eyes, I see ignorance. I see a power-hungry child who does not yet realize that too much power will blind you to the truth and make you arrogant so that you stop working hard, underestimate your opponents and ultimately become weak. It will turn you unappreciative towards the allies around you and turn them against you. I have witnessed it. You become insane, blind, and foolish.

"What's wrong? Is something bothering you?" I taunted. "I will not apologize for telling the truth. All of you will die in the near future. Even if you had never come across me, you would've died sooner or later. Nobody is invincible. No one is irreplaceable. And that includes you."

I tighetened my grip on his-my?-throat, letting him know I was serious in addressing him, and then let him go. He sat there, choking, coughing, struggling to get up. Jaken and Rin rushed to his side while everyone else stood back in fear, whispering to themselves.

Except for one person.

"Wait..." Kagura-their Kagura-had stepped forward. "I get what you're saying, but what about you?"

Stay away from me. I don't want to talk to you people. I can't look at you without thinking of...them. You are not the same people. Dammit, I can't resist.

"After this battle is over, I will die as well." I answered quietly and went back to my seat for the enemy was coming. They would understand soon enough. For now, they can just watch me fight.

I react strongly to these people. I know what they are, what they are truly capable of. The enemy, too. Actually, I have a hard time nowadays calling anyone an enemy or an opponent. Because they are too similar to me...to us. It's too easy now to picture myself in someone else's position. What I once thought was mine...is not mine.

After witnessing Rin's struggle, I couldn't look at Moriko, see what I'd done to her and say that I didn't owe that child my life. I couldn't look at Kiyoshi, see his attitude, and say that he wasn't a bigger man than I was. It's painfully clear now how much damage I've caused, how many Rins I've orphaned, how many Jakens had lost hope, how many Kaguras had to die because of me.

Now, I see Rin within every child. I see Kagura within every woman. I see myself and my brother inside of every man. Every small creature seems to be Jaken. And I can't think like I used to anymore, I just can't.

There is no such thing as revenge. Because everything you think is solely yours once belonged to someone else, and the person before, and before-and the person who will have it after you is thinking the same thing that you are. After what I witnessed, I cannot see something as mine, or yours, or theirs.

It is ours.

* * *

**(Normal POV)**

"That boy." Sesshomaru's mother mumbled. "What's up with him? He ignores me for fifty years, and then pops up out of nowhere just to say that..."

She sighed, scratching her head. There was something in his eyes that day. He had wanted to say something, but as predicted, he didn't. There was some sort of secret there that he had chosen to keep from her. If only she could track him down-but that was the reason she had not spoken to him in so long. He was the one who was constantly on the move, and she was the one who never left this castle. He was aware of her location, and she was unaware of his. The only way they could ever see each other was if Sesshomaru came to her. She could not track him down.

And of course, he chose not to and went around seeking power instead.

"I guess that's what he went back to doing." she stretched and yawned. "Seeking power like always. Maybe I'll see him in another fifty years or so."

But she wouldn't.

In Zearth's cockpit, Sesshomaru's eyes slowly shut as he finished his battle. His form went limp as his life energy was taken in order to operate the first fight for the next world.

The great dog general's only remaining son died and joined the ones that had passed away before him.

-End-


End file.
